Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Lillian Nakano Interview
Narrator: Lillian Nakano
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Torrance, California
Date: July 8, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-nlillian-01-0017

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MA: Yeah, and it seems like there were factions within the Japanese American community that you had to...

LN: Uh-huh, you had to win them over.

MA: ...win them over and build a united front in some ways before you even went out and started dealing with the public and the government.

LN: Uh-huh, that's right. And we were the ones that were always, we became NCRR later, right? Uh-huh, yeah.

MA: NCRR, so then National Coalition for Redress and Reparations.

LN: And Reparations, uh-huh. Because we decided that, yeah, we should form a national coalition. This way we'll be in touch with all the West Coast communities, and we'd be coordinating, and we'll be stronger that way. And this way we can fight with JACL if they want to, you know. So the history was that in the beginning we were very small, and we were called LACCRR. But as we communicated with all the other grassroots groups in Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, then we formed that coalition. We had a conference, a conference. And, oh, we had about three hundred people there, everywhere. They all came and they said, oh, yeah, we're very interested. So they were all, everybody was really open to that, everybody was pretty excited about it. And that's how the National Coalition was formed. Because we knew what we wanted to do, the principles were all laid out. The main thing is we wanted to fight the government, and we want to demand redress and apology, and an apology for what they did to the JAs.

And as we were doing all that, JACL started to become very, how would you say, paranoid. They were kind of intimidated, 'cause they thought they were it. [Laughs] And then they, so they were always grumbling about this or that. First they would say that, "No, no, the way you people are going about it is terrible. I mean, you're going to make..." oh, okay. The big thing was the hearings that was coming, the hearings from Washington. So then we said, oh, that's just perfect. We're gonna have all the people testify, and let them know how they feel about this. "No, no, no, we don't want you guys to have anything to do with the hearings, because you guys are going to get rowdy, and you're gonna be protesting and you're gonna let out all this anger. That's not how we want it. We want it to be a very well..." how did they say it? They described it as we have to have professionals out there. People from the community, upstanding people from the community representing the community. Not like we were, we're always grassroots. We want the people to be able to testify. They said, "No, no. You guys are going to rabble-rouse and all that. It's not going to go anywhere." And they were very against it, JACL was saying, "My goodness, these people are just a bunch of rowdies." [Laughs] So we said, "No, that's not true, but we have to speak out. We've got to speak out at this time. This is the only opportunity."

MA: It seems like the JACL wanted such control over the image, right, of the community?

LN: Yes, definitely, they did. So they had this idea about who should be out there. It's got to be very, it's got to be a community, made up of community leaders. The testifiers should not be grassroots. I mean, you're not going to have every Tom, Dick and Harry out there like that, the way you guys are talking about it. Anyway, they just had this whole image of the hearings to be led by so-called community leaders. So we says, "Community leaders? Fine, but not the way you're looking at it. This should be testifiers coming from the community. The real people, people who suffered, people who have something to say, and they should be able to say it. They shouldn't be..." anyway, we had to fight JACL for that, fight tooth and nail. But we said, "Of course we're not going to do anything rowdy, that's going to hurt the whole movement. We're not that reckless." We had to talk it out all the time with them. Bert was out there, too, talking. Finally, they agreed. They agreed to, "Okay, we're going to be separate. You guys can do what you want, and we will do what we want. But let's try to cooperate." So we said, "Of course."

MA: So what happened, then, with the hearings? Were you able to have community grassroots people testifying?

LN: Oh, yes. Yes, we did. In fact, we were very aggressive. We said, "Let's talk to the coordinator," Joan Bernstein was her name. She was the coordinator to L.A., to the Japanese community. She was the liaison from Washington. So we said, "Let's get to meet her." So we used to call her on the phone, and she was very open. Fortunately for us, she was a very, very warm, open person, and very sympathetic to our cause. So she said, "Okay," she said, "I'll tell you what." She said, "I'll make a trip out there." Oh, we were so happy. And we said, "Oh, we'd really like that. Maybe we could reimburse you for the..." she said, "Oh, no, no." She said, "This is all part of the committee." And she said, "I'll arrange something." Anyway, she was so nice. So we met her, and then she would help us a lot. "This is what it's best to do. It's best to do this." Because she was liaison between Washington and the community.

MA: So she helped you think about lobbying or how to deal with the government?

LN: Yes, she helped us in all that aspect. I mean, she did more than what was... what was expected of her. But she was so nice, and she said that she was very inspired, she said, by all the women, "women leadership in your group," she said. Because JACL is usually men. So she said, "I'm very impressed." She said, "You guys are different..." what did she say? I forgot. Anyway, she said, "You guys are a different breed. But," she said, "you get a lot done, and you're very efficient, very organized." She said, "I'll be glad to help you." So she became our, yeah, advisor and liaison to Washington. It was terrific.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.