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Title: Elaine Ishikawa Hayes Interview III
Narrator: Elaine Ishikawa Hayes
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: June 24, 2004
Densho ID: denshovh-helaine-03-0023

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AI: Well, we've covered a huge range of topics and a big span of time in our interview sessions, and I was just wondering, is there anything else that you wanted to mention or comment on that, or anything else that you wanted to raise that you haven't touched on before?

EH: Well, I think, I think Asians can well be proud of the culture we have, and the social instincts that it gives us: respect for elders, respect for knowledge, respect for teachers, and the family first. And I don't think we need to impose that or lord that over anybody else, or make others feel that we want to... that we feel superior or that we want to impose that on anybody else. But the basic practices for sound family and society isn't, those are usable traits in any social environment. And instead of emphasizing so much that, "This is how Asians feel," or, "This is the way we would do it," that, drop that issue, but keep practicing and help people understand what basic family values could be. And I think we could do that without feeling like, or having somebody else feel like we're imposing our culture on them, particularly in schools. And maybe schools are doing it much better now, and we're not aware of it because we're not in the classroom, but I think teachers maybe can benefit from sharing and learning from each other.

I think that Chicanos and blacks have some characteristics that we could benefit from. I'm not sure that I could go for the loud jazz or the hip hop business, but there are some, some characteristics where they can speak out strongly about certain practices, and maybe call it to our attention, because we're not aware, or we're not as sensitive to what the black child might be going through. And if you're not -- Aki Kurose used to say, "A child who doesn't feel good about themselves cannot learn," and I think so often we, our reaction to another person or another child may not be as warm and as receptive as it would be to another child, and I think that's the kind of thing that I think we could be more sensitive to, and be aware, "How are we reacting?" "How is that coming across to the child?"

AI: Well, thank you so much for participating in this really long and interesting interview, and I really appreciate your time.

EH: Well, it's been an opportunity for me. I think I enjoyed it, and it's good to share ideas.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.