Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Grace Sugita Hawley Interview
Narrator: Grace Sugita Hawley
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: June 3, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-hgrace-01-0025

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MA: So how do you -- I wanted to talk with you about redress and how you felt about the redress movement and the government apology and the reparations payments and that time, and how you felt about that.

GH: Well, I can't say too much because I didn't, I didn't do much work. I didn't contribute much like they did on the mainland. They really, really worked hard for it. And it was a good, it was a good thing because it made people aware more, people who didn't know about it, it gave more people the information that they needed to get out, and the apology and the $20,000, it's a lot of people died by now who didn't get it. And $20,000 we got, and people would say, "Wow, you got $20,000." It's just a token, really. Because when you compare what they lost and what my dad went through, I think what he -- my mother was still alive in the nursing home. Even though she was in a coma, she was still alive. So they gave theirs to the grandchildren, I think, they wanted to share it with the grandchildren. And so a lot of people already died, they didn't get anything. The ones who really, really needed it, you know, didn't get it, some people that really needed it. But it was a token. But the main thing was they got the apology, and they got it out to the public so that people were more aware of it, people who didn't know. I had a secretary when I was still working, and she is from California, she's white, she's from California. She said, "You know, my parents never talked about it," and she's from Torrance, right in the heart of where all the Japanese are. And, of course, in those days, it was not quite, maybe, I don't know. But she said... she's about, she's younger, so she wouldn't know. She's about ten years younger than me, so she really wouldn't know about it. But as she grew up, she said, "My parents never, never talked about it." And when I told her about it, because I talk about it as a matter of fact, and so she was shocked when she heard about it, she was shocked. And so a lot of people felt that way. They had no clue, and they lived in California. Like she says, "Here I was right in the heart of it." When you think about Torrance and Gardena and all that area, she says, "Imagine," she said. But that's how it is. A lot of the parents don't want to talk about it. Either they don't want to think about it, they don't want to face it, or they're embarrassed. A lot of them are embarrassed, too, about it. And I guess if the kids start asking them, they don't know what to say. What do they say?

MA: And your father was able to testify, right, for the hearings?

GH: For the hearings, yeah. My sister, one sister did, too, another sister I have, she did, too. I guess... and then they had a whole group, you know, the LTPRO group that Bert and Lillian were so busy working with. And so a lot of them, their kids, the nephews, the nieces, the children, they got active. Because my nephews and nieces were very active, too. So they learned from all that, they learned from all that. So it was a real educational process, I think.

MA: And how did your father feel about testifying and about the...

GH: You know, it was an emotional thing, 'cause I wasn't there. I should have gone.

MA: Where was the...

GH: L.A.

MA: He testified in L.A.?

GH: Uh-huh. And it was, I saw the video, I saw the video. Somebody had a video, and it was an emotional thing, I think, more than anything, because it just brings back everything, the questions they ask and all that. And so I think that's why a lot of people hesitated, because they didn't know how they would react when they were questioned. But he, he did, because he also did kind of an oral history interview, talk about his background and all that, too. So he was kind of used to doing all of that.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.