<Begin Segment 7>

JG: What role were you playing in kind of, I mean just, again, getting back to this idea of your ministry and your activism. We talked about that in our last interview. What effect, couple ways at this, what, what was your role during the redress movement as part of this church? What effect did that have on you as a minister in this community?

MN: I personally had no direct role in the redress movement, but there were some events held along the way that ended up being held our church, the Sacramental Japanese United Methodist Church, and also because of the fact that we had church members who were active in both of the JACL chapters in Sacramento -- there were actually two JACL chapters in town, the Sacramento chapter and the Florin chapter, and I actually ended up being a member of the Florin chapter -- but because we had church members who were very active JACL members and because the JACL was out in front on the redress issue, the Methodist church happened to be the venue where several events around the redress issue took place. And I don't know if other organizations were asked to host these events; I just know that we were approached a lot and we just said yes. I don't know that we could've said no, but quite frankly, I have to say that I felt it was important for us as a church to have some involvement in these issues, even if it just meant that we were the site to host, say, a forum on redress. I just felt it was important for us, as the church, to be visible. Now, granted I think the redress movement was a very safe issue for us to be involved in, but still, I felt that as the church it was important for us, from the standpoint of being what we now call a faith community, to be involved in this issue, again, even if it just meant letting the JACL come in and use our space to host an event. I just felt we needed to do it, and, and not only with regards to redress, but, but other issues that happened during that time as well.

Another thing that was happening in Sacramento during that time was the city was getting a large influx of immigrants both from the Southeast Asian community and from the Romanian community. This was during the time when Romania was having a lot of political fallout. The president, or prime minister of Romania, Dascalescu, was creating a lot of havoc there and causing a lot of Romanians to flee, and a lot of Romanians ended up coming to Sacramento at the time because a lot of them were tradesmen and Sacramento at that time was going through a big construction boom, so that's why they ended up coming to Sacramento for jobs. And we ended up actually, the Methodist church ended up actually allowing a Romanian Christian group to use our church as worship space, to get them going, and I believe that church ended up going out on their own and establishing their own church in town.

JG: Interesting.

MN: So we were involved in a lot of ways in the larger community, not just the, our own Japanese American community, as well. I do also need to say that having a congressman as a member of the church and particularly one like Bob Matsui, Congressman Robert Matsui, was very, very positive for us. Needless to say, he was one of the more active members of Congress, not just on redress, but a whole host of issues, and fortunately during my time there I was able to talk with him and he actually brought me back to Washington, D.C. on a couple of occasions and showed me around and introduced me to some folks who most likely I would've never met and, and was shaped and influenced by them as well. And again, it opened my eyes and gave me some experiences that I doubt if I would've, I doubt if I ever would've been able to have such experiences had it not been for my involvement in the church. Unfortunately, Congressman Matsui passed away much too soon a few years ago and, but I will eternally, forever be thankful for having met him and having him be a part of life.

JG: That's wonderful.

MN: And you know, it's one of these things, I laugh because people always say that religion and politics shouldn't mix or the church shouldn't get involved in politics, but for me it was because of the church that I got my feet wet in politics, and as a matter of fact, former congressman and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta once told me that it was because of the Church that he got involved in politics. The story on Norm Mineta is that he was an active member of Wesley United Methodist Church -- the Mineta family to this day is one of the, continues to be one of the strongest supporters of Wesley United Methodist Church, which is our Japanese American sister church in San Jose, right down there on Fifth and Jackson, Fifth Street and Jackson in downtown San Jose, Nihonmachi. But Norm Mineta actually got his start in politics when he was asked, a number of years ago when he was running his insurance agency, he was asked to become the treasurer of the San, Santa Clara County of Churches, as an active layperson of the Wesley United Methodist Church. And it was during that time, as treasurer of the Santa Clara County of Churches, that, as I believe the story was told to me, a spot on the city council, a seat on the city council opened up and he was encouraged to run for it, and he did, and he won. And it was also during that time, following his election to the city council that, I believe, the mayor of San Jose unexpectedly died, and again, he was encouraged to run for the mayor, the mayoral seat, and he did and he won that. And it was from there that he went on to get elected to Congress, and then later on to become transportation secretary. But again, Norm Mineta, always credited his involvement in the church in giving him his start in politics through the Santa Clara County of Churches. So in its own way, after having met Mineta, Norm Mineta, during that time and having him tell me that story, again, it just broadened my perception of the church and in particular my perception of, of Japanese Americans in the community in ways that my views and my experiences had never been broadened before and might never have been broadened were it not for the church.

JG: So when are you running for mayor?

MN: When am I running for mayor? [Laughs] In another lifetime. In another lifetime. My, I'm happy being who I am, just being a pastor in, in the church. Even, it's funny, when I left Northern California, when I left Sacramento to come back to Southern California back in 1994, my thought was, well, I'm leaving politics for good. I'm leaving Sacramento, I'm leaving politics for good, don't have to get involved in politics ever again, not that it was a problem or a burden, but I figured I'm coming back to L.A., I'll just go on, pastor the churches, but now I find myself here at Centenary, what, a stone's throw from city hall and over the ten years I've been here at Centenary have had opportunities and have been asked to get involved locally here in some of the politics here in, well, in Little Tokyo, but also in downtown Los Angeles. And so what goes around comes around. It's just like I'm back full circle. One of those things that makes me laugh, again, and... but I think back to those days, my first, again, my first church, my first appointment, and the experiences that I had there that I've carried with me over the years are experiences that I'm able to use here as well, and so I'm, I'm really deeply, really and eternally grateful for those experiences.

JG: So how long were you at the church in Sacramento?

MN: I was there for nine years from 1985 to 1994.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.