<Begin Segment 31>

AI: Well, of course, looking back now, I think it's easy, easier for people to say that the United States government made some mistakes at that time and that it was not a democratic thing to put these people in these camps without a due process of law. They were not really... no evidence was really brought against them as individuals. They did not have their individual day in court before being stuck in these places. So it's, in some ways it's easier to look back now, but at the time, it, my understanding is that many people thought the government was doing what it had to do, and that it was, that the government was right to do that. So, I'm wondering if you could, if you could think back again, to those days when you were actually in Minidoka, what did you think at that time? Did you think the government had to do that, that they had done the right thing, or no, really it was --

RC: I guess I'm like Mrs. Roosevelt. She battled her husband and that general and lost the battle. And she was right. And I think that's why they opened up most of the country to the Japanese and the relocation program was opened up to them.

AI: So, you felt really, it was fundamentally wrong?

RC: Yes, yes. It damaged, it damaged those that... your elders. And it put you, the children, in a position of, of being disturbed. I don't know... none of, none of the children that I -- that are now in their seventies -- [laughs] -- and have ever indicated to me, when I visited them, and they visited me, that they carry any animosity. They've had a good life and were treated well. And they've been allowed to be themselves. Now maybe there are some that still brood about it. Some lost family in the war when they were in service and that was hard. Lot of people lost their lives in the war. It was a horrible war.

<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.