<Begin Segment 30>

AI: A different kind of question now.

BH: Yeah.

AI: In, in reviewing the history of your, your life and your work, it occurs that in some ways, you've been a, a kind of a bridge, played a role of bridging between Japanese Americans and white Americans.

BH: Yeah.

AI: You worked in a number of capacities trying to facilitate communications, understanding. I, I did want to ask you if you thought that was an accurate commentary, and --

BH: Well, yeah.

AI: And if so, what --

BH: My profession is communications. And I felt that there was lack of understanding, rather than misunderstanding. Lack of understanding. And in the Pacific Citizen and Heart Mountain Sentinel, I expressed my views. In the greater newspaper field, the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, elsewhere I worked, I did not espouse the cause of Japanese Americans specifically, but I was very strongly for justice, fairness for all Americans. And in much of that activity, it, it referred to the blacks and the Hispanics in the Colorado area, and by that time, the Japanese were doing pretty well.

AI: Well, this brings us to the end of our formal questions for you, except one last one is whether -- is if you have some last commentary or additional commentary you'd like to make or words that you would like to pass on.

BH: Well, I often feel that we take ourselves too seriously, even though I have written some very strong stuff. We, we need balance. And we have to stop crying about petty things. When there's a basic issue, yeah, let's speak out strongly. But I don't agree with, say, the Pacific Citizen running a front-page story that the disc jockey said "Jap" and that sort of thing. That isn't front-page news. There are much more important issues at stake. I think we ought to pick the field in which we want to make a stand. We can't be alarmists about everything.

Now, Pacific Citizen made a big issue about the "Pearl Harbor" movie. Well, I don't know what Tateishi accomplished by talking to the people at Sony Pictures or MGM or whatever it was. But I saw the picture that was shown to the public, and I didn't think there was all that much to be concerned about. And so let's pick our fights and pick our places where we're going to make a stand. You can't be crying wolf all the time.

AI: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Hosokawa. We appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.

BH: Okay. It was fun.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 2001 Densho. All Rights Reserved.