<Begin Segment 7>

BF: So, the court cases are meeting up with dead ends, so there's the... and then JACL gets the mandate from its membership to seek redress in some way. And I understand you were part of the group that actually voted on whether or not seek a redress bill for money directly or to go for a bill establishing a commission.

WM: Well, I had nothing to do with the commission part. I did push the demand from 10 to 25, $25,000, of course.

BF: Even though you didn't have necessarily a role in the establishment of the commission, do you have a opinion as to whether or not... well, did you have an opinion at the time, whether or not that was a good idea, as opposed to trying to --

WM: Well, I thought it was a good idea.

BF: Why did you think that?

WM: Because we had to get the evidence before the public. I also felt that we had to get the evidence before the Nikkei in the United States because they don't have all the information. I didn't have all the information. I sat through all of the hearings, every session, and I learned a lot of things listening. I couldn't believe some of the things I was hearing. But I know the people were telling the truth because I myself was in camp. And if they told a fib, I would be able to detect it. And, oh yeah, I think the commission route was okay.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.