<Begin Segment 5>

MA: So you, then you did a lot of, you ran a lot of errands, then, around the neighborhood?

MT: Yeah, uh-huh. And my mother would send me out for kokogakko, they used Ichikaiei or one of them, I collected money for them. And I'd, she'd give me a bag to put the money in, and then she had a book. I'd carry a book with a pencil, and they would write their name and how much they gave to the... you know. If it's for the cemetery, Busankai, they would ask for contributions, I would go get it and write it.

MA: So then would you take the laundry, most of the businesses you would deliver laundry to, was that the Japanese business, the Japanese-run businesses? Like when you would go deliver laundry and pick up laundry?

MT: No, those, well, the one laundry that I always got on Saturday was from the farmer, brought in laundry, sheets and everything, and then I'd load that onto the thing and take it to my dad's place. But most of the place that he did was hakujin. It was all Caucasian people.

MA: Was that typical for that area? There seems to be a lot of, sort of, Japanese restaurants and laundries, but were most of the customers Caucasian?

MT: Uh-huh, uh-huh. All those restaurants, too. Oh yes, it's real, it's amazing how they, it was laundry or hotels or restaurants.

MA: Was there much sort of racial discrimination at that time? Did you witness anything like that as a child?

MT: No, not as a child, no. Because they don't show their rage against little ones who don't understand. But when the war broke out, well, I felt it then, yeah. The Chinese would wear their little buttons that says "We are Chinese" and then the others would... [laughs].

MA: So were there other, so there was Japanese, Chinese, Caucasian, were there other ethnic groups around, or that kind of passed by?

MT: Oh, yeah, Indians. And those Indians were real, real honest-to-goodness Indians with moccasins on their, real moccasins, and wearing their gowns with all the things on it, and papooses on the back. Yeah, there used to be a lot of 'em come in, and there'd be a sportsman show, and then lots of Indians all over would come in with blankets over them. The real stuff.

MA: So they lived kind of far away, but they would come into town periodically?

MT: Wherever, yeah. But Spokane used to be quite a center. In the old days, way before all the Caucasians took over, it used to be quite a fishing area, downtown, Spokane River was very much used, very much used by Indians. One of the real good fishing grounds. But they got kicked out of everything else plus that.

MA: How were the relationships between, did you ever witness anything between the Indians and the Caucasians?

MT: Caucasians? Well, the usual. It's very degrading, very degrading, and it's, I felt real... well, at that time, I didn't realize what was going on, but I'd think about seeing these women and they're being pushed around by the hakujins, you know. I saw a lot of that and they'd get 'em drunk and stuff like that. Oh, it was... I think about it now, it was pretty raunchy, you know. But oh well, the Indians don't know any better and they drink the stuff, and then you know what happens after that.

MA: And I guess when you're little, too, you don't really realize what's going on.

MT: What's actually going on, but I remember those things.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.