<Begin Segment 15>

TI: So let's... okay, so national redress, you're involved... go ahead.

PN: I was involved in '78, in '79, the first Day of Remembrance happened in Puyallup, and Frank Abe, Frank Chin, Cathy Wong, helped organize, I think, along with a lot of people in Seattle, that Day of Remembrance in Puyallup with the buses, etcetera. And then they came down to Portland, and I was involved in the JACL in Portland. They were about my age, so some of them stayed with me in my apartment and stuff, and so we started organizing the second Day of Remembrance in the country, which was in Portland, in February of 1979. And that's where I met Min Yasui, 'cause he was one of the keynote speakers. And that's when Frank Abe, who was going through Oregonian articles, found out that my father had been arrested for curfew violation during World War II, which I never knew.

TI: And so I want to ask that. So when you found out that your dad was arrested for curfew violation, what did he say when you asked him about that?

PN: I don't think he said much. I don't recall that he said much about that. I was sort of stunned. And then I realized that Min Yasui had helped get an attorney to get him out of jail. That's my understanding of the story. And then I found out that Yasui's family had helped my father's family get their farm in Boring, they helped with that. And so there were many connections between our families that I had no idea about. I did interview my father after the Day of Remembrance, because I realized, wow, there's a story here that I don't know about. So I did my little oral history project, I think I still have the tape. And one of the things that struck me was my father said, "You know, I've really been, I've been bitter since the war about that experience," and that that, part of that fueled his desire to be a community leader, to participate, to speak out. And I realized then that that's where some of my speaking out came from. It was fueled by anger and injustice. 'Cause after the war, my parents came back, no one would sell them insurance, they would have mass meetings in Gresham, "Don't let the Japs come back," his farmer neighbors shunned him, he couldn't sell his berries to a lot of places. Damn right, I'd be bitter, too. And they had just kind of swallowed that, and moved on, and not talked to us about it, and just gone about trying to rebuild their lives, and that takes a lot of courage to do that. A lot of shikata ga nai and you know, just suck it up and keep moving. So, in retrospect, I was fortunate, I think, to have caught that spirit, even though anger isn't the best motivator.

TI: Now, as part of your dad's being picked up for the curfew violation, was he convicted of that offense?

PN: That is interesting, I don't recall. I should remember, but I don't. It was him, my father, and his brother, Hank, and I remember talking to my uncle about it and he said, "Yeah, your dad didn't seem that concerned. We were here in jail, and he didn't seem that concerned, and I was trying to figure out a way to get us out, calling my high school teachers and things like that." But maybe they just got out because they were... I don't think they went to trial. And they were trying to get their farm leased before they left because they had evacuation orders. But I should go back and research that, Tom.

TI: Okay, so because of the Day of Remembrance, you found out a little more about your dad, had this conversation, you actually interviewed him, which I think is interesting. Anything else going on at this time in terms of, so you were meeting people like Min Yasui who you read about in terms of his court case and others. Tell me about this period for you in terms of, was it kind of an awakening for you?

PN: Yes. When I heard him speak, here was this rather, not tall man with this booming orator kind of voice. I went, "Damn, I've not seen an Asian American speaker like him." He was very cool. [Laughs] And I was, his brother, Homer, was a doctor in Portland, and so I knew Homer a lot, and we were co-chairs of the Portland chapter redress committee together. And so I knew Homer, and then I met Min. And Homer and I actually resigned as co-chairs protesting the lack of individual payments. [Laughs] So Homer and I were buddies. And then we got back on, but... so we did our thing. Homer's very outspoken, too. So caught my eye.

TI: Well, I have to go back to this, then. Because it sounds like, in some ways, when you and Homer resigned, it goes back to that earlier discussion we had, I mean, you were at the table, you were inside, and you spoke out to the point of resigning. It seems like... and then later on you rejoined because you probably, I'm guessing that the committee decided, well, we'll look at this, we'll consider this in a more serious way. So you and Homer had influence in terms of...

PN: Yeah, at least at the local Portland level, we did. [Laughs] Yeah, and Homer's very much like Min, living on principle and believing in principle, and that's what struck me about Min, is that he really was a patriot, he really believed that the courts would vindicate his rights as an American citizen, and he was the first Japanese American member of the Oregon bar. He graduated from the University of Oregon law school, ROTC, Phi Beta Kappa, he graduated from undergrad, and then he was, they call him a "double duck," and then he went to the University of Oregon law school. He was quite young at the time, and when the military curfew came down, he intentionally violated it. And again, like I said, I would sit in the Vassar chapel and ask myself, what would I lay down my life for? And I asked myself, here's a guy who's very young who put his career, his profession, and his liberty on the line for justice, for due process. Would I do the same thing? And I hope I would have the guts to do that, but I don't know. You clearly have to admire somebody who's willing to do that, regardless of if you agree or disagree with their standpoint. The fact that they have the courage to do that says something about their character.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.