<Begin Segment 29>

MN: Now, back in the 1980s, people started to talk more openly about draft resisters. How did you feel about that?

HY: How'd I feel about that, draft resisting?

MN: Or people talking more openly about it.

HY: I felt like they should, they should know about it. More of, they should know more about it.

MN: Were you ever ashamed of resisting the draft or going to jail?

HY: Never. Never. Matter of fact, I was honored to, to be in with the Heart Mountain group. See, we had a meeting in Sacramento. That's when Mits Koshiyama represented the Heart Mountain group, and Bill Nagasaki over here.

MN: Do you remember what year that was?

HY: I don't remember. I can't remember times.

MN: Well, this was in the 1980s.

HY: Something like that.

MN: Did you ever feel ostracized for being a draft resister?

HY: Ostracized meaning that I wasn't, that I wasn't as, I'm foreigner-like? I felt like that, sure. I did feel like that. I felt that my, supposed to be a citizen, and they treated us like an "enemy alien," you know. Took away our rights, everything. Yeah, it was bitter.

MN: Do you still feel that way?

HY: Well, as time goes by, you know, they say it heals. But still, deep down, I do have that feeling.

MN: What about even with the governmental apology and reparations?

HY: I think what I lost is, that's hardly... what I lost during the war, well, that's nothing. But I guess, I guess it's better than nothing.

MN: Now, you were never in camp, but as somebody who was an excludee, were you eligible for redress?

HY: Eligible for what?

MN: Redress. Did you get an apology and the $20,000?

HY: Yeah. They, I guess I was eligible because they gave me the redress.

MN: Now, looking back on what happened during the war, would it have been easier if you and your mother went to camp instead of going to Colorado?

HY: No, I don't regret it, no. Eventually we had to move out of the camp anyway, you know. You can't stay in camp. And besides, Denver was the heart of the evacuation, I mean, from the camp. They all congregated in that Denver area.

MN: You're talking about resettlement.

HY: Yeah, resettle, yeah. From the chick sexer to all the guys. Veterans, they all came to Denver.

MN: But if you went into camp, you actually would be fed.

HY: That's true, yeah. But we didn't make much money, but we didn't go hungry.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.