<Begin Segment 33>

AI: Well, it sounds like you've, you've always been a busy man. And as you say, you've been very active with the JACL for many years. I was wondering if you were involved in the redress effort at all?

SH: Yes, out there I was.

AI: Well, what was that like talking about the redress? In your work you're in contact with many Caucasian, the general public, as well as the Japanese American community. What kind of response did you get from various people in the community?

SH: Most of the Caucasian friends I had, I told 'em what the JACL is trying to do, "What do you think of it, what do you think of the chance of it passing?" He says, "I'm a hundred percent behind you, you're entitled to it." So, I did do that. Did all the, did a lot of it for a good many years out there. If they'd have said, "No, you don't deserve it. You shouldn't." I probably wouldn't have worked so hard on it. But out there, I got a lot of people that said, "Well, you should." And nobody, all the people I knew said, "You should, you're entitled to it."

AI: Did you have to explain to your Caucasian colleagues about...

SH: Oh, there is nobody out there knows the history of evacuation, or why. So anytime anybody listens, even one person, I'll tell 'em about it -- my experience and why, and why it was wrong. I do that any chance I get, I'm gonna spread the word what JACL did, and why we did it, what I did. I think they respect me for it. Some people don't want to talk about it. Lot of people, brings back some bad memories. I said it brings back bad memories, but I want to explain to 'em why I did it, why it was wrong. And a lot of people from there, there's a lot of Nisei that volunteered for the army, and were killed in action. One died here not too long ago, was real well-known, he was a native, born and raised in Idaho. Served couple of terms as president of the JACL, different jobs, he was American Legion for... there isn't a hakujin in this community -- it wasn't Bellevue, it was a town called Emmett, it's an orchard area, you may have heard of Emmett, Idaho -- there wasn't a hakujin that don't know Henry Suyehira. He's that well-known. Real, little, small man, he just tall enough to make the army. You can't, they won't take you in the army if you're not at least five feet tall. My wife's younger brother, older brother, he was 4' 11 1/2". He volunteered, they said, "Go back and grow a half inch," the recruiter said. But, he was twenty-something, he wasn't going to grow anymore. So he volunteered, and they told him, "Go back and grow a half inch and we'll take you. You've passed, otherwise, but you're not tall enough." But out there, they were well-respected. The Japanese community, especially Ontario, Snake River Chapter area there, everybody knows everybody, and the Japanese community is well-respected by the American citizens out there.

AI: You said that many people out in the Idaho area have no idea that the camps ever existed and you have to explain that to them. And then, you said you have to explain why it was wrong. What do you tell them about why it was wrong?

SH: Well, without having, without being accused of any crime, you can't go and put people in jail. That's what it was when you got moved in and put into camps, without any shred of evidence, without an ounce of evidence that we did anything wrong, just because our faces were Japanese. We're citizens, everybody was by birth. And without any question, without any screening or nothing, just the whole blanket, group of people were just moved and just told, "You gotta be here, and we're gonna do this to you." And we followed the orders in order to help the effort. If we'd have fought the effort they'd have to have thousands of soldiers taken from more important places to guard us, or to herd us into camps. But we went willingly and peacefully, and that's why I said the JACL did all the work to help that out and so that's why we didn't have any problem. I can imagine Seattle, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco, if a few of us had said, "No, we're not going to go," and start causing problems, it'd a been a lot of trouble, there'd have been a lot of trouble.

<End Segment 33> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.