<Begin Segment 36>

TI: This was a good segue. We started this interview talking about the significance of December 7th.

YN: Right.

TI: And in the last few years, I've noticed that you've become much more outspoken about, about issues of, of race, of what America is all about, and this has happened really since September 11, 2001, which was the, the terrorist action against the World Trade Center. Why don't you talk a little bit about that? Why, why was it important for you to become more outspoken, not, not just in your industry which was the sporting goods and sports, but now in a much broader way, with churches, with community events, with universities? What, where did that come from?

YN: I think you bring my capsule of my life into one bundle. I could have not done what I had been doing if I was still in business. I wouldn't have had neither the time nor the interest at this point, and I would have still been doing what I was doing. Out of good fortune, I knew I no longer had that burden. But I never expected 9/11. Never in my life. But when it happened, I saw many similarities of reaction. I'm not saying anything. I'm saying the stereotype of those that did it just happened to have a different name: Muslims. The darker-skinned Arabs or whatever the terrorist stereotype was, the papers, our government, Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, no different than Executive 9066. Our president signing it, the military tribunal under DeWitt, and they were all to be feared, because they were one group. And you and I know that's not true. That wasn't true for the Japanese American community, but I said that was 1941. They weren't, we weren't very smart. And this is 2001. The century of 2001? And we still have ignorance? And out of this ignorance comes out that our internment was correct, out of our Homeland Security of the great leaders out of Carolina or anywhere else? Michelle Malkin? Teacher at Bainbridge Island? This is America; they can speak. I never knew this would happen, but I finally realized my position was, my internment was no longer my story. I now can speak as an American, that it was their story also. It was our story. And until I found I had a responsibility to speak for the Muslims and that which was the development of those Americans and those of that background. I'm not endorsing terrorism; I'm not endorsing anything that's wrong.

What I'm saying is I wanted to see what happened from my day. And you know, if I just use this simply, I would have loved to have seen a headline that said a terrorism case that went the wrong way, and they said they threw it out of court, and he was a student in Idaho. I wish that would (have happened during World War II) for Gordon Hirabayashi. Gordon Hirabayashi didn't -- (wasn't exonerated until) well after World War II (ended).

TI: So let me see if I can summarize. So from your experiences of what happened during World War II, you've had all these experiences, and then since 9/11, it sounds like you've seen some similarities.

YN: It all came home to roost.

TI: It all came home to roost, in fact, to the point where there have been even more recent attacks on, on the fact that what happened to Japanese Americans was perhaps the correct thing to do, even though after the government in the '80s saying it was totally wrong.

YN: Five presidents says it was wrong.

TI: But, but with all that, you're still saying, though, there has been progress. That, that in the case of the newspaper article, here's a case where in the front page, there is admit, someone admitting that the government was wrong in prosecuting this, I think, Arab American in Idaho for, I think, having, creating websites, I think is what it was about.

YN: Right. [Laughs] You understand. I don't understand it, believe me, but I know you do. And it sort of sounds silly to me, so I got to say, without knowing what he or she has done.

TI: So I guess the question is, so... and this will be the last question: is it progress? Are we...

YN: It's greater than progress, because you have to see it from my -- this is why history is important for you. Progress in many ways, for people, is slow. But one's lifetime isn't even a marker on history. It only seems long because it's our life. But history isn't written out of one person's life. What I'm saying to you is just the fact that they get legal advice and counsel, which our people never were able to get, is in my eyes a tremendous, tremendous gain of understanding. Now, have we arrived? No way. Let me give it to you another way: why I'm so excited about why I'm here. Freedom. And that of peace and justice, is not passed down by osmosis to the next generation. It must be again re-taught. And every generation must update it to that time to keep it relevant for today and tomorrow. You do not take history to prove a point back in history. That water's gone down the river. What I am hoping when I leave, is that you take this and understand the progress I see through my eyes, and you bring the progress you do not see for today and tomorrow, and you'll be saying that to the next generation. Because you must teach the next generation. You cannot assume they understand their roots. And don't look backwards, take today and look forward. For my story is for those who are yet to come. And I do not want to have any absolutes. What I have shared with you is that you must cleanse that which I believe to saying, "That no longer is true today." But that does not make me wrong for what I had done, for I am moving in the same direction that all people that are concerned with freedom and the rights of empowerment to all, I want to be a part of that, saying, I didn't know what I was doing, but I was at the cutting edge, the brat, that was asking the questions. And they said, "No," but I said, "I'm going to try."

TI: And with that, I think that's a great way to end this. So Yosh, thank you so much.

YN: Thank you.

TI: This was, this was, the time just whizzed by here.

<End Segment 36> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.