Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Cherry Kinoshita Interview
Narrator: Cherry Kinoshita
Interviewers: Becky Fukuda (primary), Tracy Lai (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: September 26, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-kcherry-01-0017

<Begin Segment 17>

TL: Cherry, as you were telling us about how redress began to unfold and Seattle's unique role in thinking up the legislative campaign and so forth, I'm wondering about how you saw yourself in all of that. What wasm, what was the goal or roles that you could feel comfortable taking on as this movement began to develop?

CK: Actually, I became involved, as I said, as an officer of the chapter and in '76, I was president-elect and I think that's when the Seattle group -- and the formal name was Seattle Evacuation Redress Committee -- began this appeal for action and so I was brought into it in a sort of peripheral way. Then in '77, as the chapter president, my involvement still was there. I was asked to sign different things. And although one point, place where I did fall back a little was that I was planning to go to the San Jose conference -- national convention -- with the group and the group was going to present the resolution to the national. And that Saturday before we left to go there, my brother died in Chicago, so then I went to Chicago instead and I wasn't able to make that convention. But I missed that and missed... that was the time that the Seattle group actually sat down with Mike Masaoka and convinced him to go, 'cause he had been opposing redress in that form and so I'm sorry that I missed that, but I was still involved because of the role of the chapter in this. So it was just kind of an easing into it and my resistance at first of whether it was appropriate and then there (when) both Henry and Shosuke talking about the reasons and why it was essential, then I gradually got involved.

Then the Day of Remembrance at Puyallup was November of '78 and I didn't take a part in it except that I was asked to host some of the national JACL. So Cliff Uyeda, John Tateishi and I can't remember the name of the PC editor at that time. So I was sort of hosting that, those people and saw their reaction to this tremendous outpouring of over 2,000 people. That, that was so moving. To get into... we all met at what used to be called Sick's Stadium there on Rainier. And then we got into these cars, and I can't remember if I was in the bus, but the sight of the stream of cars all with their headlights on moving down the freeway -- just miles -- and that was so inspiring to think all these people are out here to go to the Puyallup... and then that, that I think was the first, very first outpouring of -- no, I take that back, it was the bringing up of the feeling of the camp experience. Many people had either suppressed it or just put it aside and they didn't want to talk about it. I know my reason. When people asked me why didn't I talk about it, is that no one asked me. I mean, my son wasn't interested and you don't force this kind of thing on a person. So this is why I never talked to him about it because he didn't show any interest. But the Day of Remembrance was a very sobering event, where it first, you know all these feelings that were hidden began to surface and when you listened to the speakers and realized that, what a massive injustice this had been, that was the start of it...

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.