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TI: And how did you coordinate with other Japanese American organizations like the churches, JACL? I mean, was there any coordination with the other groups?

FH: You know, at that time, I was so busy at the Y. We tried to live normally as possible. There was a store right in the middle of J-town called the... there was a bookstore right in the corner, and they had a glass showcase window. So we used to post notices on that, and they used to get newspapers, the Japanese papers used to publish what they can. And I think probably because of our connection with the FBI, Lincoln Kanai, he was able to get more governmental information than anybody else. And so I don't remember... we still go to church on Sundays. Everything, life kept on going as much as possible, try to be normal.

And we tried to, not knowing what's going to happen, the JACL had a national meeting in the Kimon Hall right on Bush street, I was there. And they decided that our best policy as JACL is to cooperate with the government, because we didn't know what's going to happen to our Issei parents. They could line 'em up and shoot us. We never thought that we would be affected, 'cause we're citizens. And yet, we were part of the total, "aliens and non-aliens." That's what, those exact words that DeWitt used.

TI: And so the non-aliens were citizens.

FH: Absolutely. Instead of saying "citizens," euphemism. That's, we're good at that. And so I just feel that we're living in that kind of world where we have to make the best we can in a reality world. And yet, we have our ideals and we have our hopes and dreams, and somehow we're trying to marry our dream with the reality. But that was the time that it was so uncertain of what's going to happen. And so many people after the war, after the war, now, ten years later, blame JACL for this, this, this. I wish they were there at that meeting when we didn't know what's going to happen to us. When it seemed that we're gonna have our parents all shot. At that moment, what their decision would have been. Today, it's easy to talk back, and I see a lot of third generation speaking out. They have their right, that's okay. But they should also listen carefully to the times and what we faced, and they're not listening to that. They just see one side. And so there's a split in our community which is terrible. But that's something that happens in other situations.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.