Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: June M. Hoshida Honma Interview
Narrator: June M. Hoshida Honma
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Torrance, California
Date: July 9, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-hjune-01-0019

<Begin Segment 19>

MA: Well, I wanted to ask you your thoughts about redress, you know, the government apology and reparations for the internment, and what you think is the importance of redress and the legacy of redress.

JH: I think the most important thing was the apology. I could use the money, but I was very sad because my mother and father had died, and of course they couldn't receive that, but my sisters got 'em. But I appreciated that apology a lot, and I have it framed. My one regret is I didn't copy the check. [Laughs] You know, then I'd have that and the check underneath it, even though it's a copy. But I wish my parents had their redress, 'cause they really lost a lot of money. They had a hard time. Once we moved back, my father got that good job with Mr. Moses. My mother worked for Y. Hata Dry Goods as a seamstress, and I think Mr. Hata also went to camp with my dad. Because when I was looking through his pictures, they have Y. Hata in there, dry goods. So he must have been one of the many.

MA: But those who, the Isseis and that generation really didn't, a lot of them didn't get to see the apology.

JH: Yeah, a lot of them didn't live to see that thing. Wasn't it George W. Bush? No, W.H. Bush?

MA: I think it started under Reagan, but it was officially signed by the senior Bush.

JH: By Bush, I think, yeah. And then by that time, 'cause my father died in '85 and my mother died in '61. So they never got to see it.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.