<Begin Segment 28>

AI: Well, and then also, then as time has, had passed then, I understand when the redress effort started up, there were, people were talking about that. Can you recall when that, redress was first raised what kinds of things you and your husband and friends thought at that time?

LK: I think it took about ten years for them to get the redress. But at first we, we didn't want to be involved in it because typically we don't want to ask for money and then my husband being the kind that he was, he wouldn't ask the government for anything. And so he didn't get on any committees or anything. But we figure well, if people like Cherry Kinoshita, who was very aggressive about it, we have her to thank for it. Because when it came to giving out ($20,000), we took it.

AI: Well, now before the redress actually came through they had a series of hearings.

LK: Yes.

AI: And I understand that the commission came here to Seattle to hear, for that. And can you tell me about that?

LK: Yeah, they had three days of hearings so then I decided I wanted to go listen to it. So I heard the different people who were going to be testifying and it was in the papers and everything so I got interested in it, so I took a day off from work and went. And it was so interesting to me and it was kind of an eye-opener for me. So I, I called my husband after that afternoon session was over and I said, "Could you please get your own dinner?" Which was really unusual, 'cause I was always there for dinner, you know. And so I said, "I want to stay and listen to the evening session because I don't want to lose my seat." Well, then I was so engrossed in it that I took two more days off to listen to the rest of it and it was very, eye-opening for me, because when I was evacuated I was more or less a (teenager), you know, my mentality. And then I'm looking at it as an adult and the impact of the whole thing just hit and me and my kids said to me, "Wow, Mom, we didn't think that you were that interested in it, because you hadn't talked about it that much." But I said, "Well, you have to appreciate that I was a (teenager) at that time and then now I'm an adult and I was able to understand what my parents must have gone through by hearing the different experiences." So I thought that was really a well-worth attending.

AI: That must have been really quite an experience to hear all of that.

LK: Uh-huh, it was.

AI: Did your parents ever say much after the war?

LK: No. They just, they're appreciative of being in America and loyal to, you know, to a fault and so, the first chance they had to become American citizens. They went up to Edison (Vocational) School (now SCC) and they took reading and writing and, and brushed up for their examination and they were, became a citizen and they were very proud of it. And their allegiance was with the country. So when that all happened, they felt, Pearl Harbor, they were apologetic about it. They felt like they're part of the enemy and so they never voiced a resentment for having been incarcerated.

AI: And it was only later, as you looked back, that you realized what they might have been feeling.

LK: Yeah, I was... now I realize how hard it must have been on them to give up their livelihood and give up what they had built up and worked for.

AI: Yes.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.