<Begin Segment 28>

AI: Okay, well, we have a few minutes left on this tape and before we end this session I wanted to ask a little bit more about your high school years. You had mentioned earlier about the, in high school learning more U.S. history and government and now these subjects are subjects that you, of course, did not have in your Japanese schooling. So when you were learning about U.S. government and history, what opinion did you have? Did this, the ideas that in America, people are equal and so forth, and the democratic principles, what was your opinion of that?

RM: Well, I learned that there was a discrimination in, about slavery and things like that and lynching, and I don't know how bad it was, but, well, one time this Irish, sure enough, was discriminated even though they Caucasian, but then Mexican were "wetback" and everything else, and like "Dogs and Irish Keep Out," alone or something like that, but sometimes the Jewish people were discriminated occasionally and, of course, in wartime, the Japanese were discriminated very badly, so was some Italians, too.

AI: So you did learn --

RM: Then at the school, I learned, from history part then slavery, then Jefferson and then kept the slavery and even the good guy, George Washington, had a slave. But that later on, that's Lincoln time. But to me kinda confusing because I have to learn between the British Revolutionary War and then Civil War, it's just half and half, Lincoln, sixteenth president or whatever and then in between gap I don't know what happened so that kinda confusing, to me, but I mean, you have to make a report so you gotta know. You have two classes and learn different ages, so that's kinda confusing to me, but I had to do it in order to get the diploma. But right now, just give you a piece of paper but at that time, sheepskin, I still got sheepskin. Your school have sheepskin? No, they've got a --

TI: Piece of paper. [Laughs]

RM: But I have a sheepskin. I thought I gonna bring but no, no use showing that. But at least people look down on me but at least I have a high school diploma. That's why I end up in my job, the grocery store, then learning dialect, chance to give me and save my life later on, so...

AI: Well, before we get there I just wanted to wrap up and mention that --

RM: Okay.

AI: -- you graduated high school in 1933.

RM: Uh-huh.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.