<Begin Segment 15>

TI: So, I kind of went through all my questions for this one, and I wanted to give you an opportunity just to kind of reflect or talk about anything else that you wanted to mention about this issue, if there's anything you felt like we didn't cover or if there's anything else you wanted to say about maybe the issue between the resisters versus the people who went to Tule Lake, the segregants, or any other topic. It's been eleven years since we last talked, and a lot has happened. I guess there's one thing I wanted to ask you. In the first interview we did with you, this was 1997, you mentioned the importance of the Niseis to speak out because you never know if something like this could happen again. And then 2001 we had September 11th, where there was a terrorist act in New York City, the twin towers came down. And after that, there was hate crimes against Muslim and Arab Americans, and to some Niseis, it was reminiscent of after Pearl Harbor and what happened to Japanese Americans. Did you think about that at all after 9/11, what was happening in our country, and did that bring back any feelings for you?

GA: Yeah, it brought back memories of what had happened. During World War II, it was Pearl Harbor, right now what had happened was the bombing, or the plane crashing into the towers. Basically, they were kind of, there's a connection between that, to me, that there may have been something done, that our government may have kind of slackened off and that's why they had found it, to be able to fly into these towers and cause all this havoc on 9/11. And yeah, true, that right after that, all the Arabs and the Muslims, and many of them were taken in and they were taken in for indefinite reasons, or even without reason because of suspicion. And so there's a lot of resemblance of what had gone, gone wrong. But I don't think they'll, hopefully it would never happen, but I don't know that it will, because people, when they get excited, they get mad, they do things that normally they don't want to do. Referring back to some of these "no-no" people who made all sorts of comments, but then they really didn't mean it, it was just verbally to register to the government that they were dissatisfied with what was done. Hopefully, or unfortunately, we wound up getting into the Iraqi war, and they're still going on. And hopefully, that our, the new president would put a stop to it somehow, 'cause we've been at war for some five years now, going on five years, and there's a lot of casualty and death due to that, really, unwarranted war.

TI: Going back to the issue of being a draft resister, any other kind of reflections or comments that you'd like to make?

GA: I think the main comment was I wanted to have people know the difference between a resister and draft resisters who were considered "no-no," that we were all grouped together as a "no-no" group, and we were considered very unpatriotic, and draft resisters and all that. And really, what the reason of my resistance was not to go against going to the war, but refusing to go unless they give me my citizenship back. Then I would go. And I wanted to make it clear that people would know about that, that I am not to be considered as a "no-no" boy, which is a bad word in the Japanese community. But during the war, all the news media, the reports were all against us as being included as the "no-no" group, and we were sure labeled, and they treated us, all of us as such.

TI: And I think this interview has done a good job of distinguishing the differences between those who went to Tule Lake, the segregants, and the draft resisters, and I think you did an excellent job of clarifying that for us.

GA: Yeah, I hope so. I kind of took the liberty of talking extra, but then...

TI: [Laughs] That's fine, Gene.

GA: It's gotta be documented. [Laughs]

TI: That's always the good part. So thank you so much, Gene, for doing this.

GA: You're welcome. (Narr. note: If you stick to your convictions, the truth will come out.)

TI: This was excellent, thank you.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.