<Begin Segment 19>

MN: Well, let me ask you something a little different. You brought up Dr. Satsuki Ina.

TS: Right.

MN: And you were involved in that, the video, Children of the Camp.

TS: Right.

MN: Was that therapeutic for you to be involved in that project?

TS: Absolutely. It was, it was like a therapy session. We talked about our experiences after camp, during camp, and whenever you talk about anything it's a way of defusing all the pain and the suffering and whatever's... so it's always a, it's always therapeutic. And I tell you, I've been asked to talk to, at UC Berkeley, Berkeley High School, all these grammar schools. They want, here's a guy who was actually in a camp. He was a kid at four, came out when he was almost five, and they want to know what it was like. And I always tell these kids, "The reason why I came here and told you my story and how I suffered from these camps because I don't want any of you kids to ever discriminate on another kid because he doesn't wear nice clothes like you do, his parents don't have as much money as yours, or he's from a different race or color or creed." I said, "We're all people and we all deserve the good things, so if you're gonna be one of those who are gonna persecute people because you don't have money or they don't like your religion or the color," I said, "you're just like the people who put us in the camp." Because they always agree that the government was wrong for doing what they did, but my point of going there is I, and I tell them all the time, I said, "I hope every one of you would grow up to be decent human beings with integrity, that you're gonna do the right thing, no matter how you feel about people, their sexual orientation, etcetera, that you're not gonna treat them any different, because they're valuable human beings. They may not be different as, they may not be the same, the same as you, but they deserve the best just like you do." That's the only reason why I did it, and that's the only reason why I do it. I just hope that we can learn from this and the other, the other point being that there are so many people who've already died thinking they were trash because the government shit all over them, and you can't, when you're dead and gone there's nothing you can say or do to them. But I hope for the people who live, and I hope for the people who survive, a hundred years from now these historians will look back in 1942 and say, "You know, now I understand why those people were the way they were, because they were treated the way they were." And you look, look at the contribution we made to this country. We don't go to jail. We abide by the rules. We're good citizens. You ought to look up to us and say, God, if there is any people that are model citizens, it's us.

MN: Well Toru, I want to thank you. I've asked my questions. Is there anything else you want to add on?

TS: I just want to say I appreciate the opportunity to come talk to you. And whenever I, I talk about these old days and the pains I went through, it really, it's like a, it's like living through a dagger in your heart. We're not talking about happy times when you were eating ice cream and cake. You're put down for being a, whatever you are, of Japanese ancestry, and it's painful, but at the same time, therapy is painful, too. You don't go to a therapist and talk about how you got straight As in school and your parents pat you on the head and said you were just the brightest kid on earth. You go to a therapist because you want to talk about something that's painful, and hopefully that'll make you a better person. And you learn, like I learned, that no matter what the world does to you, it don't mean you're one iota a lesser person. And I hope that people can learn from our experience and that, on the surface, people say, jeez, you look great, but deep inside there's all those scars and pains that we... when I worked as a salesman, you can't go to work and say, jeez, I feel like shit today. I'm gonna treat everybody like shit. Some people do that. But you have, you have a stomachache, but you still smile and say, "How do you do? Welcome, blah blah blah." You have to be an actor or an actress. And sometimes it's not easy to be an actor, when you're feeling terrible, to have to smile and put on a good face. But when you talk about the bad times and the painful times, it brings back painful memories, but in the end I feel like I, the pain and the, whatever the pain and the injuries are, are overlapped by the good it might do for other people. 'Cause I'm a hell of a lot better off than a lot of my friends. I see my friends... I went through the therapy. They wouldn't go through therapy for love or money. They say therapy is for crazy people, and I say, well, that's kinda true, too. But I've gained a lot from my therapist, and I thank God for it, not that I believe in God. But I am thankful for all the good things I've gotten from my life, as an adult. Like I said before, I have lots of good friends and I'm always overwhelmed by all the goodness I've received, and I'm always thinking, my goodness, what did I do to deserve all this good stuff? But I'll take it, 'cause I know I deserve nothing but the best.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.