<Begin Segment 15>

AI: Tell me, had you gotten involved with the Quakers already, at that point? When did you get involved with the Quakers?

AK: I went to a Quaker college before I got married.

AI: So that was you first exposure.

AK: Uh-huh.

AI: And then when you came back to Seattle, you continued with the Friends.

AK: Yes.

AI: So then also, the Friends were also involved in the open housing movement.

AK: Right. Uh-huh.

AI: I see. So part of this is a connection through your work with the Quakers.

AK: Yes. So I think I would say that my whole life has been influenced with the Friends' activities.

AI: Can you tell me when, when you remember the Friends' approach, and values, first starting to have a major impact on your thinking?

AK: Well, I felt, in camp, when the fellows were being recruited for the service, I felt it was wrong. And then I felt like, there must be some other way. So I was anti-conscription anyway as far as people participating in the war effort. And I started to get lots of literature from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, or whatever, about the, you know, serving in the military. And I just knew that, that I could not fully participate or support a real military kind of a situation. I must have been awful. [Laughs] I even sent literatures to many of my G.I. friends saying, "Hey, you're doing the wrong thing." [Laughs]

AI: What kind of response did you get?

AK: Well, it didn't seem to bother them. You know, I don't think they were seriously looking... "Oh, Aki's sending us some more junk," you know. [Laughs]

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.