<Begin Segment 11>

MN: Okay, now I'm gonna get back to a little serious matter. Let's go back to Manzanar.

RO: Manzanar.

MN: Sue Kunitomi Embrey, she passed away in May 2006, and you were one of the few non-family members to see her before she passed away. Can you share with us what your last conversation with Sue was like?

RO: Well, I actually had seen her the day before. And this is Mother's Day, and her son came from Chicago, and daughter-in-law, to visit her, because now she was in intensive care. And he called me and he said, could I come to the hospital? I said, "Well, I was there yesterday." And he said, "Please come." And so I went in to see her, and I said, "Sue," and her eyes kind of flickered, and I think she knew that I was there. So I just kind of reminisced with her about our journey. And, but one of the things I said to her was, "Sue, I will promise that your dedication and your perseverance efforts will always be remembered. Anyway, she passed that night. And since then, I've had opportunities to talk about her involvement, and the involvements of others. I talked earlier about Keith and Ross Hopkins, and there are others. Recently, I spoke at Ken Burns' program. And Ken did a special program on the "pocket parks," little small parks. But special parks, and one of 'em was started at the initiation of a Japanese photographer. And there were others that involved Japanese immigrants. And my piece was to talk about internment, establishment of Manzanar. And in my message, my message was, "Like Ken Burns, it's important that we acknowledge the citizens, the public members that worked to establish these parks." And I would say, without any disrespect, park people come on board, and they're gonna look at it like not necessarily history, but instead, approach it as a park of a rock, mountain, a lake, and that they, they don't necessarily capture the history of the community that was affected. And so it's been great experience in this particular park to be a part of the development of the exhibits, and continue to be so. Recently there was a dedication of the Block 14 project, and that is the first time, publicly, the Park Service, the new superintendent, a Japanese American named Les Inafuku, acknowledged my role as the lawyer which supported Sue in this effort. It wasn't important to me necessarily that I be acknowledged, but that up to that time, the Park Service referred to Sue's role as leader of the Manzanar pilgrimages. The pilgrimages were a very important part of the education, not only of the community at large, but importantly, the activists who can carry this effort forward in the years to come. So I appreciated that acknowledgement by Les, but we want, in keeping with my promise to Sue, that we want the full story told. And in her book, she acknowledged my role and Bill Michaels', but as the story continues to unfold, I want to make certain that stories of the role of Keith Bright and others who suffered, actually greatly, and stood in the fire to make this happen.

MN: What other efforts are you doing to win support locally in Inyo County?

RO: Oh, okay, we're gonna go back now. I talked earlier about reaching out to pioneer descendants and to Native Americans and all. You know, I'll tell you one story. My husband's a fisherman, and so we go up to Owens Valley when we can. And in the town of Independence, there is a hotel -- not a hotel, a coffee shop, Bobo's. And one day Tom and I were having breakfast there, and this is at a time when there was a lot of hostility and opposition in the valley. And here, this Japanese American looking guy comes in, and he goes up to the counter and he shakes hands with everyone, looks like the regulars, and I said to Tommy, "I'm gonna go talk to him." Tommy said, "We're gonna hit the road." I said, "Give me a minute." So I take out my little mayor's card, and I go over to him and I said, "My name is Rose Ochi, I'm working for the Manzanar Committee, and I need your help. Everybody seems to know you and like you. What do you do?' He says, "I'm the dishwasher." [Laughs] Anyway, but no stone unturned.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.