Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Mo Nishida Interview II
Narrator: Mo Nishida
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: January 9, 2012
Densho ID: denshovh-nmo-02-0008

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MN: Now on the way back from Wounded Knee, you stopped by Amache?

Mo N: Uh-huh.

MN: How did you feel about returning to camp?

Mo N: Yeah, that's a good one. I don't know. I know I wanted to stop, I went by there at night, but it was dark, so we had no place to, we didn't want to stop there. And we had people we wanted to stay with in Rocky Ford. So we drove to Rocky Ford, but my wife at that time said, "Why don't we stay over a couple days and then go back?" So then we drove back to Amache, it's not that far. Colorado ain't that big of a state, unlike California. So we went back during the day. And I got up to where my block was, and I had all this rush of memories that came back. Yeah, I don't know what to say. I was just overwhelmed by it, so I just had to take a break and just sit down and let it run through me. But yeah, I had a lot of rushes. Dog, and used to be a couple... somebody's dog, like wild dog, and me and two other guys from our block, we used to run together all the time, so they used to be like our pals. And just the memories. I was talking about the obake that came out of the... the hinotama that came out of the graveyard and chased us? Yeah. Being at the shooting range. See, some of these, I don't know if they're dreams, I don't know if somebody conjured 'em up. 'Cause when I talk to people, they don't remember it. This guy named Mitsuru Konki, he was a real "bring it" guy, he was hit by a car. He was what kind people say is "eccentric," and then Japanese called him kichigai. We used to go fuck with him all the time. We had a reunion with the two guys that I was in camp together with, so I asked him if he remembered. It took him a little while, the guy who says he's got a clear memory, it took him a little while, he said, "Oh, yeah, now I remember. Guy on a bicycle, older guy. So I asked him the question that's always been bothering all my life. I said, "Did we used to throw rocks at him?" He said, "Yeah." "What do you mean, 'Yeah'?" Said, "Shit, we used to throw rocks at everybody including each other." [Laughs] And I'm thinking, oh, man, we got some heavy bachi coming off of that, man. Okay, yeah. So these memories I have of camp was just, yeah, they overwhelmed me that time. Took that back with a real heavy heart. But it was part of my liberating process, to be able to look at that and see it for what it was. I went back again, you know, a couple years ago with my son after a sun dance up there, we stayed on the, camped on the grounds there a couple, three days. I didn't have the rush, so I guess I must have cleared it. So my son was trippin'. There were some coyotes howling at night, scared the shit out of him. [Laughs] Cracked him up. So, yeah.

You know, my association with the Indians goes back to Alcatraz when we took the Pioneer Project people, we went up there and took a whole busload, the Nisei fishermen and all that. Yeah, so there's all this sprinklings of heroic deeds done by our people that you dig into it, it ain't just the 442, the MIS and all that other bootlicking shit, chasing after the white man trying to curry favor. Our guys were brave, but they're stupid, too. I love 'em, but... go ahead. They don't need to be defended.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.