<Begin Segment 22>
BN: I guess the last thing would be about Campaign for Justice, how you...
(Narr. note: The Campaign for Justice, I believe, continues to seek an apology and equitable redress payment to those who were neglected for various reasons: those born in Camp after the official closing date of the Camp; those whose green cards were stamped after 1944, including those who married Americans and re-entered to hasten their becoming USA citizens; those who refused and those who accepted the $5000 from the *1998 Mochizuki v USA settlement. (Many here in the US were so insulted they refused it saying they receive more from minor car accidents.)
There are other reasons that the Campaign continues to work hard but I will just mention another that I remember. It seeks also to get the supplemental funding for the Civil Liberties Public Educational Fund.
*I asked the question: "But if they accepted the settlement as small as the $5000 was, how would they qualify?" The answer was that it is included in the agreement that any subsequent legislative act could still qualify them.)
The Campaign had to work very hard with time restraints to inform, explain and get the decisions of the former internees not only in the USA but also in Peru and Japan. I believe that most of those living abroad, including my late auntie Fumi in Kysushu, decided to accept as they were already of senior ages.
The Campaign was most grateful for Representative Becerra of California and Senator Inouye when they got aboard and introduced legislation. Though it seems to be in a dormant stage at present, there is still hope that somehow a positive end will come.
EK: Oh, the Campaign for Justice was started in San Francisco by a group of people who's been headed mostly I would say by Grace Shimizu, who is really a Nisei because her parents are Issei. They're both gone now. That group has been working so tirelessly, and of course they asked for help. So I have gone on my own to Washington, and until... I knew they worked hard, but I didn't realize how hard. From the minute they go there, they're doing all the paperwork, they're setting up appointments to see all the people in Congress. If they don't get to see the top guy they'll see the, of course, the assistants. And so, and they continue, because it's still not resolved. And finally we have Senator Inouye on the agenda, but something always takes precedence so it seems to be pushed aside. So who knows? But I admire the fact that they just keep plugging away anyway. And it's very costly because you have to stay in a hotel. No matter how cheap, it's still every day for how many days. And the plane ticket and so forth, no matter how cheap you could get one, it's still expensive, nowadays even more so. So I have tried to help I think one time by giving my miles, since we travel so much. But they're just, they're so admirable, those people. They just keep plugging away.
And I don't know, I was hoping that all this would be cleared before too long, but it's still continuing. And people forget, so each time you go back to Washington you have to re-teach these new people, that takes time and money and space. And so it's just horrendous. I cannot praise them enough. And of course there's a need for a lot of donation, but that's getting kind of forgotten because there's other things that take over. So who knows whether this will really come through or not in our economic environment. There's always something. But at least it's lesson to know that there are people like Campaign for Justice, like all those like Bill Hohri's group, who fought in spite of everything. Everything was negative, but they kept doing it. And so I thank these leaders, Michi Weglyn, whom I met, I met her in New York in her apartment, and my children and grandchildren had the privilege of meeting her, and she was even more beautiful in person, inside and out, than just her pictures that I had seen.
[Interruption]
And she was so generous, as was Bill Hohri. He's the one that pushed me to give an index. I didn't have an index. And I said, "Why would I need an index? This is my dad's story." He said, "Because it's the only book of that kind." And I had to search -- that's my other learning experience doing something I knew nothing about, nothing about publishing. So I had to go look for an indexer. There are people who make a living doing indexing, which I didn't know. You do that? I wish I had known. I had to go to Illinois, and that gal was booked, so she sent me to her student who was in Indiana. So my thing had to go through those people, and finally it got done. But now I'm so glad I did it because I said, "But Bill, why?" He said, "Because, Elsa, scholars will be looking at this, and they don't want to go through page by page. They'll just want to look quickly." And I said, "Oh, okay." I didn't want to do it 'cause that was more money needed, and I didn't know anything. And I went to U of H, they said, "We don't have one, we got to Illinois." That's how I went to Illinois and then to Indiana and finally got it done.
So I learned so much by doing this. So everything I've done, I think I did learn this. When you do something for someone out of your heart, you receive more than you give, and that's what I learned from life. And with my dad I really wanted him to have this book, really, before he passed on. And I've received so many letters, fan letters, that I never knew anyone would write to me. And then before long I had sold everything, but people were still calling to say, "Do you have another copy?" And so then I went for the second publication. And at first University of Washington Press actually turned me down. But because of the people I met, I think, and the little work that I did -- I hardly did anything -- but Professor Gardiner and Professor Masterson, they both wrote to University of Washington Press saying, "You've got to do this." That's the only reason why it was done. And they both wanted to do the foreword. So I said, "Well, it's such an honor, could we have two forewords?" [Laughs] And they said, "No, you have to choose one." So I had to choose Professor Gardiner, 'cause he spoke at the hearings. And with his help, our story got told. It gave weight, 'cause he's a professor, we're nothing.
Just my father who spoke, and I think maybe he's the only one that spoke in Japanese. Oh, maybe there was another one, Mr. Murono. But he spoke in Japanese, and when he spoke in Japanese, that whole huge auditorium, I think it was Eastern University in Illinois, was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop, because he spoke with such emotion. And then my husband translated it, and then we were such big news, we got through all the newspapers, TV, radio, including the Latino radio and newspapers in Chicago. So it got to be known a little bit.
BN: You're talking about the Commission.
EK: The commission hearing. Yeah, we had to go all the way to Chicago, and because I called California, they were booked solid, which would have been closer to us. Was there one here? I think... I think there was one here. There might have... I don't remember, but anyway, so then my brother who lives in suburb of Chicago said, "You know, they have some opening, so why don't you get in touch with Ms. Tomihiro?" And she was in the committee. So she said, "Good, we'll wait for you." And so because of them, we got in at the last minute. My husband had to write his speech on the plane getting to Chicago, and then get up early in the morning because it was so far to travel, and the rush hour. But we did do it.
So yeah, so we've done very little compared to all these people, attorneys like Dale and all these others who do pro bono work and continue to help people, we do very little. But I think because of the hearings, we were able to put our story on the map, so to speak. And that's why we were included in the appendix of the commission (...). Otherwise, nobody would know about us. So I guess you do have to be a little active to get things known.
BN: Your book, I think, is quite a big role.
EK: Yeah, much more than I ever dreamed.
BN: Because it is the only one.
EK: Yeah, so far. And then all the Isseis, there's no Issei left as far as I know. Because Mrs. Yamasato, Maurice's mother was the last one, and she's gone. Now my mother, who's ninety-five, is the last Nisei of her generation. So I suppose it may be the only one, so I'm so glad he did it. So I'm so glad he did, and I'm so glad for people like Bill and Michi Weglyn and Aiko Herzig, but especially Bill was the first one to say, "Elsa, you have to do an index." I said, "Oh, no, I'm ready to have it published, printed." He said, "No, you've got to do it," and he made me do it. And so then Michi called, and she said, "Elsa, you must do it." I said, "But Michi, I don't know how to do that." She said, "It's not so hard." I said, "Maybe for you," because she did hers. And I said, "I don't know where to begin." So she tried to help me, saying, "It's really not that hard, Elsa." I said, "Well, it is for me. I don't even know what I'm doing." But she helped me a lot too. She was so generous. So those two in particular, but later, people who bought tons of books -- she's another one, and Bill, and Mr. Tomita, my husband's Japanese founder of his company who just passed away last year, but he bought like a whole box to pass out. And so people are always there to help you, that's what I've learned in life, that people are there to help you. You just accept it and be thankful.
BN: Thank you.
EK: Oh, you're very welcome.
<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.