<Begin Segment 29>

TL: It strikes me that the redress movement has become another defining moment in Japanese American and really people of color, in a broader sense for constitutional rights, for civil rights, for all the things we've talked about. And I'm interested in what you think is next, kind of post-redress. Where would you like to see the community put its next efforts and continue to grow?

CK: Yeah, I think as far as JACL goes -- and I'm so wrapped up in that organization, although I'm getting away from it now -- I think there is this period, sort of a floundering around, what is the next big issue? What is it? Something that we can all be united on and really, no qualms about fighting for and so forth? I don't know... I think I'd like to see a lot more effort put into the multicultural generation that's coming up. Because for one, my granddaughter is half Japanese and half of Norwegian descent and I don't know at this point whether the multicultural, the mixed races are going to have problems or not. And if so, shouldn't we be doing something about it? Shouldn't we... and not necessarily problems, but maybe things to benefit. Is it going to be essentially no... to the point where it's not going to matter at all, in terms of race? Are we reaching that point where we're so, getting so mixed and with outmarriages and all that we don't need to? Then the question comes up, are we losing our culture? Are we getting so, for instance, my granddaughter, is she ever going to be interested in Japanese culture? Is she going to be interested? So you're looking at two things, one, of reaching a point where it won't matter, but on the other, do you really want it that way, so that you don't retain some of the culture and some of the things that we like to feel are definitely Japanese American? Because as far as Japanese Americans go, as we know it, I don't think we're going to ever have that population again. Because we don't have the immigration and it's entirely different. Other Asian groups I think have the continuing stream so it's not defined like ours where we have Issei, Nisei, Sansei and we are down to Yonsei and Gosei and maybe that is going to be, you know, the end of it.

So, as far as issues go, let's face it. We still have racism, as long as we look like we do, we still have that and it's, maybe a matter of arriving at each problem as it comes. I mean, we've got this Asian violence now, what are we going to do about that? And actually, is it our responsibility? Because they're Asian, does that mean we need to carry the burden or the load of saying hey, this is reflecting on all Asians, or do we have that right or authority to say that any more than we do, to say an African American or a Native American or a Caucasian, you know, if they are into crime and whatever. We as just general public, yes, but should we take any more responsibility because it's Asian? I don't know. These are questions that I'll leave for your generation to figure out. [Laughs]

BF: [Laughs] Thank you. I'm going to do our verbal slate now. We, this is a Densho interview of Cherry Kinoshita. And the interviewers are Becky Fukuda and Tracy Lai. It is September 26, 1997 and we are in Seattle, Washington.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.