<Begin Segment 19>

TL: Well, what about your childhood experiences in public schools or whatever school was available?

YB: There was some prejudice -- as a whole everything was fine, but you'll find one that's always giving you a bad time. I don't care where you go, there's always one that's doing something different. And this was a boy who is, of course, prejudiced against Oriental, maybe the family was. And the rest of them said, "Don't pay any attention to him, don't pay any attention." But, it, it kind of bothered me, because I had never had that experience before, because I was raised with and among them. And then to come to school and have that happen. I said, "Why am I different?" But eventually he was being overpowered by the rest, he changed eventually. And he turned out to be a very nice boy. Because what he might have learned at home might have been the influence too. But with my patience of not getting too hurt or upset, he eventually... found that he wasn't getting anywhere with me. So he eventually changed.

TL: Were most of your schoolmates Caucasian or were there any of --

YB: I was the only Oriental in grade school and high school, until I went to (Carpenteria), which is a small suburb town of Santa Barbara. And went to high school there and graduated from there. There were two other, members from a family that were Japanese. But until then, I was the only Oriental.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.