<Begin Segment 18>

MN: I want to ask you about December 1942 in Manzanar, when the riots happened. Where were you when the riots happened?

JM: I was right there by the, right in the front there, next to the sentry. I wasn't in the crowd, I was right up there.

MN: How did you end up next to the sentry?

JM: [Laughs] I don't know. I remember the sentry sittin' down and shooting.

MN: Now why were you there?

JM: Rumors that there's gonna be some kind of activity, so we went there trying to find out what's happening.

MN: Did you know what was happening?

JM: Not really.

MN: Did you know why there was a crowd?

JM: I guess they wanted to beat up one of the prisoners. I think.

MN: Now, did you get injured?

JM: Who?

MN: You.

JM: No, (I didn't get injured).

MN: Did you see any teargas?

JM: I don't know. I wasn't in the crowd, so...

MN: Now you said you were next to the sentry. Did he start shooting?

JM: Yes.

MN: So what did you do when he started to shoot?

JM: We backed off. I don't know what happened after that. They stopped it, I guess. Everybody dispersed.

MN: Before you went away, did you know that somebody had been shot and killed?

JM: I remember a couple of people falling. I don't know if they were killed. The sentries were petrified. They were scared. So I guess they just panicked.

MN: What gave you the impression that they were scared?

JM: By looking at their face.

MN: What reason would they have to be afraid? Was it an angry --

JM: There was a lot of people.

MN: Were the people shouting?

JM: They were shouting, yeah. And they only had so many sentries. I don't know how many there were, but they were scared.

MN: Now, later, did you hear that some of the people who were suspected of being inu were taken out of camp for their own protection after this happened?

JM: I heard rumors to that effect.

MN: What were some of the rumors you heard?

JM: It was for their protection, 'cause there were people coming after them.

MN: The next morning in Manzanar, after this happened, what was it like in camp?

JM: About the usual, I guess. I don't remember.

MN: Did the name Fred Tayama ever come up?

JM: Yes, it sounds familiar.

MN: But you had no real contact with Fred Tayama.

JM: No. I didn't even know who he was.

MN: What about the JACL?

JM: I don't think they were that popular.

MN: Why weren't they popular?

JM: I guess... I really don't know.

MN: Now, when the "loyalty questionnaire" was passed out, what was going through your mind?

JM: Yes, they were telling us how to respond to it, the older guys.

MN: Were there meetings?

JM: No, they, we had to go to this place to sign that questionnaire, and they just told us how to answer.

MN: Now, these older people, were they older Terminal Islanders or just... [JM nods] So you would go to register and they just told you, this is the way you should answer it?

JM: Uh-huh.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.