<Begin Segment 9>

TI: Good, so let's move on after high school. So what happened after high school?

PJH: After high school, okay, well, during high school, of course, it was Vietnam War. I would say that even in my junior, senior year I was really questioning a lot about the war.

TI: 'Cause this is around 1967, '68?

PJH: Yes, uh-huh. My, I think, '68 for sure, I think I would've a been a hawk, if you, instead of a dove, in that I remember asking my, my teacher, 'cause I had heard this before, had we bombed China during World War II or whatever -- I can't even remember the, how I was thinking -- maybe we wouldn't have problems with Communism. So Communism was the, the fear. You know, fight Communism. But it wasn't until I went to Cal State Hayward that I befriended some other people that were more peace activists and they were into anti war movement, and they were white. So because they were friends of mine, I, of course, joined in with them. They kind of pulled me over to being a part of, an anti war activist.

TI: I think about 1968 in, like, race relationships, so you had the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968, what did you think of that, when that happened?

PJH: I remember being in chemistry class and the teacher coming in and announcing that. The first thing, I have to say, am very embarrassed to say, is that, "Oh, we don't have to have our test today." That's the first thing that went through my head, but seeing, seeing how my teacher was responding, all of a sudden there was a sense of emotion, of, that suddenly penetrated me. It's like, oh, something really, really big happened. I think I was apathetic, politically. Growing up, my parents were Republicans and they would always tell my brother and me, "Don't talk about what we are to your friends, because we don't want to cause any problems."

TI: The fact that they're Republican, don't tell your friends?

PJH: Right, just in case, so they never would want to openly reveal the, what party they belonged to.

TI: This is really interesting, PJ, your, your background. This is so different than, say, Roy's background. [Laughs]

PJH: Oh yeah. [Laughs] How did we get together?

TI: So let's get to Cal State Hayward, and so you, your friends are anti war and so you start to go to meetings?

PJH: Anti war meetings and doing a lot of protests, and even going to where my dad worked at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and demonstrating out there and just gettin' my butt whipped. You know, going "What are you trying to do? You know you're gonna try to get your dad lose his job?" And they're going, oh. And by accident I would like, oh, but don't you get it? They're apathetic. My parents are apathetic. But it was during that year, it was my first year in, in college, that here we were all anti war, there were other anti war groups on campus as well, and that was the Asian contingent. So here I remember, I remember walking in protests with a group of white students going this way and Asian students -- it was against the war -- they were coming from, like, a different direction, and it was like, those are, that's my face over there, but I'm over here. It's kind of like, again, weird feeling. And it was also kind of timely, too, that one of the real, real active students on campus that was Asian happened to be a girl that I was doing judo with. We were taking judo as one of our PE courses. And her name is Julie Sumida and Julie would tell me -- and we were judo partners -- "Oh, can you help me with my homework? Meet me at the Asian Studies Center." "Okay, I'll meet you at the Asian Studies Center." We were taking some, like some geography class or something and she wanted me to help her with her homework. "Meet me over there." I go in there and it's like, what is this? And it was in a mobile unit, and I just remember going in and plopping myself down there and kind of waiting for her to show up, but in the meantime there's other people, "Oh hi, what are you doing here?" "I'm waiting for Julie." "Oh, could you file this for me?" I go, "Uh, well, sure," so here I'm starting to file, file for, I don't know what this is all about. I know...

TI: But I sense, I mean, you were, you were a little uncomfortable being there.

PJH: I was uncomfortable because, yeah --

TI: Was it, was it because it was an Asian American --

PJH: Well, that was part of it. That was part of it, plus I'm not, I wasn't really good about feeling comfortable making new friends, so strangers, like, kind of quiet. But here, "Do this." "Oh, I'll do that." "Okay, do this." Julie never came. So she did that again to me, you know, "Meet me at Asian American Studies." "Okay. Done." Then I would help her with her homework or we would get together and then we start eating lunch and then all of a sudden this new circle of friends developed. Louie Lee, who was the Asian American Center Director, he was a big Chinese guy with this huge "Fu Manchu" beard and always smoking, and he'd be going barefoot, smash out his cigarettes with his feet. That's just the character he was and he was very intimidating, but he was just a real soft hearted guy. That I knew. Then he goes, one day, maybe several months into this me being at the center, Louie says, "Hey, can you come with me?" I was known as Patti still, but still converting to PJ, so that was the time. "Come with me to the president's office. We have to kind of talk with him." So just me and him, we go to the president's office and he starts talkin' up a storm and starts swearing, and I'm going, what am I doing here? I just felt like kind of melting. And he says, "I'm getting really mad now. I'm gonna pick up this chair, I'm gonna throw it, so be careful." He's telling the president this. [Laughs] And he throws the chair. I'm going, oh my god, what am I doing here? But that was kind of like my indoctrination.

TI: And why do you think he picked you? Why were you there?

PJH: I was the only one that was in the center that day. [Laughs] And I think he had an appointment. Oh, that was kind of like starting to harden me, and by that time I started to hear a lot of the, like being politicized a lot more. It was, rallied a lot around Asian, the Vietnam War.

TI: Well, going back to that incident, you said it hardened you, so after going through that experience, was that something that said, "Okay, so this is something I believe in and want to support"? Or when you --

PJH: Yes. Yes, because, but it was kind of the means to the end, I didn't feel comfortable with the means. The end was, like, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, give us more resources. And that I believed in. But I was also starting to be more active with the Asian contingent of anti Vietnam War.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.