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TI: Going back to redress, eventually you got a little more involved. Especially during the, when the hearings started happening in the early eighties. It was probably '80... probably '81, '82. So can you describe how you got involved and why you got you involved?

KK: Well, I was in Honolulu and, I can't remember the two men's names, I'm sorry, but they came and talked to me, and they said did I know about JACL, we should have a JACL chapter here in Hawaii. And I said, "Yes, you should." And so they said, "Well, let's call these people and let's have a meeting and let's make a JACL meeting," and I says, good. So then, we did. We had a JACL chapter -- well, I was working, and I had to, I couldn't always stay in the meetings 'cause I was on call all the time. I was a public health nurse for a private agency and I was on call twenty-four hours a day. And I had the whole island. So, sometimes I'd be at a meeting and then I'd get a call and I'd have to leave and all, but I was there when we started. And then it came up that we were going to have these hearings, and so I helped them, helped the people get their hearings. And it dawned on me, who's going for my family? And I call my sister and she says, "Nobody, but if you will go, I'll pay for you." So I said, "Well, somebody's got to do it. You know, if Edison was alive he would've done it, but he's not." So then I wrote up something, and she said, "I'll give you a ticket to go." Well, I says, "I missed the San Francisco one, I have to go all the way to Chicago." She says, "Okay." So I didn't know anybody in Chicago, I didn't know where to stay or anything. And then my friend, my Peruvian friend said, "Oh, such and such a person is living in Chicago, you can go stay with them, and they'll help you." So that's what I did, 'cause I had no money to stay in a hotel or anything. And this family helped me and took me to the hearings and all, but I didn't get to see Chicago anything because we were busy, and then I had to leave right away 'cause I still had work to do at home. So I went and did the hearing and then came home.

TI: So describe the hearing. Do you recall, not maybe the exact details of what you said, but what were some of the general themes or topics you talked about?

KK: That I talked about? I just told my father and my brother's and my story, you know. And everybody else seemed to have stories of sadness and death and this and that, but I'm -- there's three of us on the table, and I'm the last one -- and their stories are so involved with death and sad things that happened to the family and everything. And mine wasn't like that. And I said, well, it was sad that we had, my father was taken and we, you know, and he went to this camp and then we ended up in Crystal City and this and that, and my brother Edison and Bob and I... so I told our story, and the rest of the family, and what happened to the rest of the family, but it wasn't sad like others.

TI: What reaction did you get from testifying? Did you get any feedback from anyone?

KK: No, no.

TI: How about from the family that you testified? Any feedback from family?

KK: No, from... no. They hadn't heard it anyway, so, you know. They said thanks for doing it. That's all.

TI: Well, after the testimonies, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act and President Reagan signed it. What were your feelings when the law passed?

KK: I felt good. I said, "Edison, you were right." My brother Ernie was in, I think he was at a meeting in Seattle or something...

TI: Yeah, the Seattle, the JACL national convention was in Seattle right, days before Reagan signed it.

KK: That's right. And I think he went with them to Washington, D.C. and he observed the signing. But he was funny, he... I would have made a bigger deal of it, but he didn't. But he told everybody that he went, and he signed it, he saw the signing. I don't know, 'cause he wasn't really the one that was for it at the beginning.

TI: But the committee wanted someone representing the family, because Edison was, is viewed as kind of the beginner, or the founder of this movement.

KK: That's right, yeah.

TI: I want to now talk a little bit about -- is there anything else about redress you want to say? Because I wanted to ask about your efforts to collect and preserve family history, but before I go there, is there anything that you want to talk about, more about redress?

KK: Well, I was glad to get redress 'cause I never had that much money of my own for myself, so I took it and I invested most of it.

TI: Okay, good.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.