<Begin Segment 14>

TI: But then there was, like, you could find places like at this Christian church where there were some others who kind of were in the same situation?

KG: No. The Christian church was kind of a relief. The attitude was different; that's one of the reasons why I went, because there was more camaraderie.

TI: But there were other Niseis there who felt the same as you?

KG: Yeah. There was a Nisei service and an Issei service. And the Nisei service was led by a Caucasian Christian minister from the outside.

TI: And about how many Niseis attended this service?

KG: Oh, I don't know. We had a barrack full.

TI: So that would be, like fifty?

KG: Maybe.

TI: And in general would you think of this group as having views similar to yours?

KG: Yeah, pretty much. We were sympathetic; we understood each other.

TI: So as a group, when you would leave the service or something, were people sort of harassing you?

KG: Not in the church, no.

TI: Yeah, it sounds like such a difficult situation, and I'm just thinking, the administration, the camp administration must have known some of this was going on.

KG: Oh, sure. Oh, sure. Because these people were very vocal.

TI: No, in terms of, I'm sure, yeah, they noticed the vocal, say, pro-Japan, but the fact that they were harassing Niseis who maybe didn't have the same beliefs.

KG: Well, I don't think they were aware. But no, we were on our own.

TI: Did you ever fear for your safety?

KG: Yeah.

TI: So tell me about that. What would be a...

KG: Well, when I went to school in the evening, this advance course that we talked the teacher into teaching, I got chased home. So I dropped that because I decided it wasn't worth being clobbered to take classes.

TI: And who chased you? You said you were chased home.

KG: Oh, group of boys hanging around.

TI: And do you recall anything that they yelled or said to you as they were chasing you?

KG: Oh, yeah. I can tell you one time when I was in the shower, you know, this open room, and this Issei saw me, she says, "Why don't you go to Japanese school?" And she just harassed me and I just quickly got out of there. But it was just little things like that, people constantly badgering you. And when it got to a point where they said, "Don't speak to anyone who is pro-American," the way they handled it is people like my neighbor, there were at least four people about my age group or a little older, they weren't supposed to deal with me. So we would bump into each other, and the way they handled it is by looking away as if we didn't exist.

TI: And how did your parents deal with this when you talked to them about what was going on?

KG: Oh, well, my father... I understood why he was doing what he did, and as much as I tried to talk him into at least going to another camp, it just didn't work and I finally just gave up. And he finally decided when they got a point where they said, "We're going to kill anyone who is pro-American," and this one man was murdered, that's when my dad hightailed it to the office and said, "We're leaving." Because he knew we were targeted.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.