<Begin Segment 11>

MN: You were working as a dish washer in Washington D. C., weren't you?

HM: I was not in Washington, D.C. It was in Maryland, north of Washington, D.C. We went shopping downtown in Washington, D.C., if we needed to buy something.

MN: You moved to Florida from there, right?

HM: Yes.

MN: You were a schoolboy and going to an American high school?

HM: Yes. I didn't want to go. When I was in Maryland, my friend begged me to go to Florida with him. I didn't want to, but I reluctantly went there to Florida. I went to school in Florida. The U.S. government financially supported me. [Inaudible] The tuition was free.

MN: You received GI Bill support because you were enlisted in the military before the war.

HM: Yes. The tuition was free. They gave me 100 dollars or so too. When I went to Florida, I went to a Christian school.

MN: But black students in the school --

HM: It was a high school. The high school was related to a church. I went to the school, the church school, and the government didn't approve the aid. Didn't approve, didn't guarantee. Orlando in Florida. I went to Florida, and I was told that the tuition would be free and the government would give me some money. [Inaudible] I was told that they were looking into it but didn't hear from them at all. I had to pay the tuition. I was in Orlando in Florida, and I went to the office of the Veterans Administration and asked. [Inaudible] Academy there. Christian school. I was told that the U.S. government would not approve the aid to go to that school. So if I continued to go to the Christian school, the government would not offer support to me. Would not cover the tuition. Would not offer allowance either. I quit the school and started to go to a public school. That school was approved.

MN: Did the high school have only white students?

HM: Yes, all white students. They didn't have any other Japanese students. No black students either. The high school went out on a school trip on a bus, Orlando High School. No other Japanese American students. All white. No black students. No Japanese Americans, no Asians. All white there.

MN: Were you discriminated against?

HM: I wasn't. It was a lot better. They didn't discriminate against me. We went on a bus trip to somewhere. On the bus, to a park somewhere. We passed a school for black students. The black students were at a barn. Those students were going into this dirty barn, and that was their school. We couldn't go to school like that. We saw blacks standing outside by the barn. It was a dirty barn, like a stable. That was a school. White students were not there. Black students had to sit at the back when we were on a bus. We were on the same bus to go to school. They were not allowed to sit in front. That's how it was.

MN: Where did you sit?

HM: In front with everybody.

MN: Didn't white students complain?

HM: Nobody complained. White students... we were on a bus. Once, a white girl sat next to a black guy. At the back. The bus driver stopped the bus. He said, "You are white. You are black. Colored people, go to the back." They were separated. We got on a bus through the front door. A bus driver... a black person got on the bus through the front door and went to the back. The bus driver, the white bus driver, one bus driver, he was white, told the black person to use the side door instead of the front door. That's what happened. I was one of the white kids. White students were my friends.

MN: How did you feel to see that?

HM: I thought it was okay. It was fine. Black students were dirty. They were so dirty, I thought it was a good idea to have them separated. I thought so. About black people. Should be separated. I didn't think we should be together. No wonder nobody liked them. I thought that was right. It depends.

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