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DM: So, so you were involved in the anti-war movement.

AM: Yeah. And about that time, I became involved with the American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker organization. In fact, I got involved with the organization before I became a Quaker, because they were at the forefront of the anti-war movement. And yeah, it wasn't just about candidacy and political campaigns, trying to choose anti-war candidates, it was that, it was the acknowledgement of suffering of the people in Vietnam, for instance, during the carpet bombing, what that meant to be bombed out and burned out of your own homes, things like that. So yeah, it was a very difficult time for me because we're talking about Asians. And at that time, people kept talking about Vietnamese as being... certainly not human beings like the rest of us. And they're talking about the Viet Cong, of course, when they're talking about this. But the Viet Cong are no different than the rest of the Vietnamese. Anyway, and the understanding of what it meant to, to have the right to feeling safe, the right to be able to find food for your family, take care of your family, all of those kinds of rights were being completely obliterated because of war.

DM: So in some way, did you kind of relate to the Vietnamese people as fellow Asians?

AM: I certainly did, yeah. 'Cause if you just look at their faces and you look at yourself in the mirror, yes, there are some differences, but they're not, we're not really different, and that was my acknowledgement. And I remember that, my telling you the story about the woman who was a Zaibatsu family member who was obviously clearly impoverished. And because she was on the wrong side, it just seemed... I think the human beings have the right to certain things in life, and then if they're being taken away because of somebody's idea that they shouldn't have it, then I think it's not something that we should support, I guess. I don't know.

DM: Do you think that your own experiences of having had your own dignity taken away earlier in your life impacted your understanding of the Vietnam war?

AM: Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's the idea that you're removed from someplace against your will. And yeah, when I think about the cumulative effect of what the internment meant, and being put in a prison camp or being removed from your home, I can relate to that. And at different levels, it's the same thing as being unable to stay where you want to stay, and that's, that's what it is.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright ©2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.