Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Sharon Tanagi Aburano Interview I
Narrator: Sharon Tanagi Aburano
Interviewers: Tom Ikeda (primary); Megan Asaka (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: March 25, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-asharon-01

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[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: But I wanted to actually go back and, you know, earlier you were talking about how you had the Chinese community which was mostly bachelors, the Filipino community which was bachelor, and then the Japanese community which was more family oriented, where there were more women. I'm curious, because of the proximity, was there ever any interracial dating between the Japanese women and the Chinese men, or the Filipino men?

SA: No. There were a few (that) married Caucasians, 'cause in camp we encountered (them). But as I was growing up, there was none. And I really felt sorry for the Filipinos because they were the younger group that were sent here and trying to make a living, sending the money back (home). And the reason I say that was, as I was mentioning before, there was, the one thing I remember was chasing a fellow named Marcelino and evidently he had knifed his landlord in the hotel. I don't know what nationality the landlord was, but so he came running out and of course the police were there and they were chasing him, and then we were behind the police, of course. But we were running, and every time he turned, we would run back. It was kind of like (a game), but we raced through Nihonmachi, you know, Japantown, down the alleys. It was one of the most, I guess, exciting thing that ever happened to us as children. And he had a double-edged knife, and I thought, "That is remarkable." But I always thought he was such a bad person. Well, the story much later, and what had happened was he was one of the youngest boys in the cannery, and he had saved quite a bit of money. And this is how the Filipinos did it; they would save this money, and they would have, they don't, some of them don't trust the bank. What they did, what he did in this case was give it to the landlord (for safekeeping and) to dole out to him. Well, the landlord really was the one who was to blame, he didn't (give him his money and) he told him it was all gone, it was not. And it was very early in the season, and he was desperate. That's why he did what he did. And when you think about it, I took (a) criminology (class) later in school, (and worked at the juvenile home) a short time, and I thought, well, you know, he had a good reason.

TI: And so he knifed the landlord.

SA: Evidently.

TI: And did he kill him or was it just a...

SA: I'm not sure what happened. All I know is I remember chasing him.

TI: And so the police was chasing him through Nihonmachi?

SA: Well, they got him, but...

TI: But I'm curious, so the kids would follow the police?

SA: Well, a few of us were running because we were wondering what all the excitement was, so we ran after the police. And so we saw him running and them running and we're running. But when he turned, and we would run back. [Laughs] But of course, we had to go, get out of there. But I never knew what happened to him.

TI: Okay. So I want to go back to the, the interracial dating. So you say it didn't happen amongst Japanese and the Filipinos.

SA: No, I'm sure the Filipinos would have wanted to get married, but you know the Japanese.

TI: And so was there pressure -- I mean, why wasn't that happening? Was it from the Isseis who just did not let this happen?

SA: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. The Chinese, too. Everyone kept to their own race. And maybe it's because of language, but I think it stems from culture.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.