<Begin Segment 19>

SY: So I'm coming back to this whole issue of your always taking a strong position on certain issues, being willing to fight for what you believe in, so if you were to characterize what you would fight for in the Japanese American community, what would, what would be the things that you think are the most important? What would you fight for? Where would you not -- in other words, there's probably division within the community too, as to what is important and what is not, so what are some of the issues that you fight for?

GN: Well, one of the issues that's out there, you know, redress has been pretty much accomplished, although those from Peru that'd been kidnapped, that's still out there, but one of the things that we have to deal with is the terminology, the euphemism, the word "internment." And some of the older folks, they don't get it 'cause they've been so conditioned to it. But I was using the word internment for a long time until I was educated about it. When you intern someone you intern an "enemy alien." You don't intern an American citizen. It doesn't meet event the legal definition of interning someone. And I just saw a letter to the editor to the Pacific Citizen by this older Nisei saying that to intern means to confine. No, it's more than that. It's "enemy aliens." Two-thirds of the people that went to camp were U.S. citizens, and what people have to understand -- and this is all part of education -- is that the federal government at that time tried to project all of us as being a bunch of foreigners. They didn't say that we were Americans. They didn't say that we were U.S. citizens. No, they said we were non-aliens.

SY: Right. So some of this position, the strong positions that you take with that, can you relate it back to perhaps having been incarcerated at Tule Lake where people were taking a stand? I mean, how would your, how would your parents react to the way you've decided, the way you fight your battles? What would you, how would you think they would react?

GN: I don't really know because a lot of these things I had done in the past they don't even know about. And I know, like my father passed away, what, back in 1972, I think it was.

SY: But they clearly took a stand that was not real popular, right?

GN: Yeah, they did.

SY: And was that a role model for you, or do you just...

GN: I never looked at it from that perspective.

SY: So it was just --

GN: Because they, my parents were never engaged in community organizations or community service, so I didn't, I don't think I really followed their pattern in a way, to speak.

SY: Even though they took a --

GN: I was pretty independent.

SY: From early on.

GN: Yeah.

SY: And, and this idea, though, I mean, do you, so who were, as a child who were your role models? Who did you sort of want to be? Or did you emulate anybody?

GN: I guess when I was younger, before you start thinking these intellectual things, when I was engaged in track I guess my hero at that time was Jackie Robinson. He was a star athlete, very athletic in every sport, whenever I would read about an athlete. Then I had far more respect for him when I found out how much he fought racism, and he did it at a time where he didn't have organizational support. He was out there alone in many cases.

SY: So you did, you were very aware at an early age.

GN: So if there was a role model I would say Jackie Robinson is probably one of the role models.

SY: Yeah, so there were people that you probably considered heroes to you that, there must've been some sort of direction that you got as you were fighting your battles. Or was it just all purely from your own, you don't, not wanting to be pushed around? I mean, it is interesting to me that you're really very strong about your feelings about things and you're willing to fight for them regardless of what other people might say.

GN: Well, I think, like during the Civil Rights Movement there had been different leaders that led certain issues and were able to accomplish what they started off to do. I think those are the kind of the motivating factor, that if you organize and strategize you could get certain things done. And one of the interesting comments that was made to me when I was at Inglewood, when George McKenna was the superintendent -- he's the one that they had a docudrama on TV that had turned around the Washington Preparatory High School in L.A. city, and when I was talking to him about racism he said that you can't change the person's attitude but you could change their behavior.

SY: That's great. And you, and so that's --

GN: That really stayed with me, what he said.

SY: That's very good.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.