<Begin Segment 21>

AI: Well, now as you had discussed earlier, at the same time that this commission process was going on and the hearings, your own two daughters, Kathryn and Lori, were involved in what's now known as the coram nobis...

PB: Right.

AI: ...cases, which was a reopening of the World War II period Supreme Court cases...

PB: Sure.

AI: ...of the, Hirabayashi, Korematsu and Yasui, who challenged the curfew and the evacuation orders for Japanese Americans. And so at about this same time in the late '70s and early '80s, your daughters and other attorneys were -- and other community members were gathering information and data that supported much of the hearing information you received at the commission...

PB: Right.

AI: ...again showing the evidence that there was no military necessity. And now at this time were you surprised at all at what was coming out as a result of these, reopening these lawsuits? Because during the wartime there was so much misinformation about Japanese Americans being spies and saboteurs and that type of anti-Japanese, anti-Japanese American propaganda.

PB: Right.

AI: So here this new information was coming out that that was not the case. In your own mind, were you surprised at what was found?

PB: No, I wasn't surprised. I think that the lawsuits that you say that my two daughters and my daughter-in-law were involved in was very good. It may not be necessary, but it brought out an awful lot of things that was necessary. And I think that as a result of this, it set a precedent in all cases that may come up later that would have anything to do with this type of a situation -- that it set a precedent that will stay and maybe prevent anything like this ever happening again that, because of racial -- and this is what it was, it was racial -- that at least the three individuals, the names that you mentioned, were the proponents of trying to get the right thing done even after many, many years. And I'm very happy that my family members were involved in this and that they were able to contribute to this. And if it ever comes again, I would still encourage them to do the same thing, to do the right things. And that's what they were doing. They were doing the right thing, and I think that that is a very important thing.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.