<Begin Segment 23>

TI: Going back to school a bit, so when you were in San Francisco going to school, were you behind or ahead or just right on track? I mean, how, how...

NA: I was right on track.

TI: Okay, so the schooling at Topaz and other places were, were okay. It kept you...

NA: I guess so, because they put me right into what would've been, was it third grade?

TI: Yeah, been about, I was gonna say second or third grade.

NA: Yeah. Yeah, I think I finished second in camp and getting into third, at Emerson Junior High, I mean Emerson School.

TI: Now, were there other Japanese Americans at that school?

NA: Yeah. Now, remember my parents bought this property that was outside of Japantown. We were removed from Japantown, I mean, where this property was was really, at that time, I guess was French, Jewish community, just bordering on the Jewish community, but the French area at one time. And you know, much of San Francisco, like L.A. is right now, it was segregated into that kind of neighborhood, so there were people, there was one family that found housing and rented out on Lyon Street. There was another, my cousins came out and they stayed in one of our, our flats for a while and then they found a place, so their kids went into school, but not a whole heck of a lot of JA kids.

TI: I was wondering when you would observe, like other Japanese American students at school, did they seem different? I'm just kind of, get a sense of when, when people came into this new environment, if you noticed anything.

NA: No. No, I don't think, and whether that's because I was just trying to adjust myself with my new environment and my new friend and, and having, even though I call, in the friend one of the first real big challenge I had during the first weeks of this new friendship was Rosalind called me a "Jap." And I mean, it was like a, like, "I'm not a Jap. I'm an American." And really the only thing I could dig up to protect myself was my cousin who died as part of the 100th Battalion at, towards the final days of World War II, in Germany, that is. And I just, that was the only thing I, just grabbing him out and just putting, basically, I think in terms of, like, putting him, shielding me to say, "I'm an American and my cousin went and he died fighting in Germany. We are American." And I don't know, she kind of then, kind of lightened it or something, but that was the one time where there was some tension between Rosalind and myself. And it seems like me protecting, grabbing my cousin to protect myself. And I don't know how she received it, but after that there was no other ever mention.

TI: Now, when she used that term, was it, was it meant to be in a derogatory way? Or was it because that was just a common usage?

NA: I'm sure it's, as children, it's probably that's what everybody called. As much as the N-word was prevalent, the Chinese weren't graciously called Chinese either, the Polish people weren't called Polish folks or... you know.

TI: Right. That's why I was wondering, this was just what the adults would say, so they just picked it up and she used it, or did she really, did it because she was, kind of wanted to, to lash out at you in some way?

NA: Yeah, there was that element, because if I, we were having some kind of disagreement, obviously, but she just threw that out and that was it.

TI: So she, yeah, so she used it kind of in a...

NA: It must've been in, I mean, she probably, she knew how I'd react, so it was hurtful. And somehow we worked that through. Her, her mom, her mom and her auntie, they all came up from the (South), the Northern Migration process and they were from Texas, so got a little sense of whatever their community was like, or their foods and thing, but it wasn't like Louisiana or all. It was more Texas like cuisine. Cuisine, that's a new word. But yeah, so that was a good experience. The rest of the class, it was made up of, we had, that time she was called Spanish, Sofia Morales, we had a number of black students, including James Irwin, who was so tall. You know, you knew he was gonna be a basketball player, somebody who's really tall. And other, Anthonys and Melbas, and Victoria was another, your American girl. There was, it was a mixture, and there was one other Japanese girl, Lucille, who lived on Lyon Street, across the street from California.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.