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SF: So in that high school, what was the racial situation like, being a Japanese?

SI: The what situation?

SF: The racial situation in those days.

SI: Racial. I think we were totally accepted, but separate. I don't think they discriminated against us, nor did they take us in and invite us to their homes or weekend parties or have their mixed dates with Caucasian or other ethnic groups for that matter. The Chinese and a few Koreans, there were very few Filipinos again. But I think we were... well, maybe more than tolerated. We weren't feared or discriminated against, as I recall. Perhaps others had a different view, but we never became friends with classmates to buddy around with them or go out on the weekend. We had our own Boy Scout troop. We had a Caucasian scoutmaster, but other than that we had no contact with other ethnic groups. We all kept amongst ourselves and in the community, since there were quite a few... I think there was perhaps more, as much segregation between the Christian Japanese Nisei group and the Buddhist group. They tended to keep in separate groups and the separation between racial groups was somewhat equivalent between the Caucasians or perhaps a bit more, but they never tended to have intergroup gatherings very much.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.