<Begin Segment 54>

AI: Well, the redress movement was something that was partially influenced by other changes, like the Civil Rights movement and the rights of the African Americans, and of course, along with that, in the same decades was the women's movement. So you have seen many changes in society that have come about. And I was wondering if there is anything that kind of stood out in your mind or any thought or reflection you have about these major changes and the impact it's made on people?

RI: Well, I think most of the changes are for the good, that gradually society is beginning to accept that, you know, race diversity is fine and Japanese, or black, or any other race is just as good as white. And whatever occurs, even for women, gradually, I consider it progress. So we are getting more tolerant of others, other races, other sex, other people, so I think it's for the good. Maybe if I lived another fifty years I would see more progress. But, I'm not really, really dissatisfied with society now.

AI: Well, some people have said that they felt there was a, we had a setback with September 11, 2001, when there were the terrorist attacks in the United States, and in fact some people said that it reminded them of December 7, 1941. And I was wondering if that had occurred to you?

RI: Well, I think, I think that the terrorist attack is... well, since, since the terrorist attack happened in New York, and we are on the West Coast, it didn't affect me as much. And then I didn't have any personal friends who were involved in there, so probably my feelings aren't as strong as people who live on the East Coast. But then, I think it's entirely different. At the time of Pearl Harbor there was war going on already and since we are Japanese, then Pearl Harbor attack really affected us more, whereas the terrorist attack hasn't aff-, hasn't given me much opinion about how to feel. It's something that I'm not very involved in or not very knowledgeable about so I can't comment too much about that.

AI: There had, there had been some people who were of Middle Eastern heritage and background who were the victims of some hate crimes after that. And that was a difficult period.

RI: Oh, about how the Japanese were treated, the prejudice about it?

AI: Some similarities.

RI: Yes, it's probably similar but I don't know whether I could even say that. It probably wasn't as bad as how we were treated. At least they were not evacuated. But they probably sensed it, and because of our experience, what we experienced with our evacuation, maybe they didn't get it as bad as we did. So, it had to be more improved than our treatment. And then, they had more supportive groups to help them not repeat the same thing. So, our going through with it I hope helped them. And I can't help but feel that, you know, they're still with their families, they're -- well, most of 'em are with their families. They have their, most of 'em have their businesses and they weren't sent away, so, not as bad, but they probably felt, felt similar kinds of feelings.

<End Segment 54> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.