<Begin Segment 12>

BN: So you started UCLA. Can you tell us a little bit about what that felt like, going to UCLA?

WS: It was great, all Japanese, a lot of Japanese students. Take the bus, I had to take two buses to get there.

BN: You still lived in the same area?

WS: Yeah, 4th Avenue and 29th.

BN: So that's a long way.

WS: Yeah. I had to get up to Crenshaw, and Crenshaw to Pico or someplace, take another bus to UCLA.

BN: And were you still doing the gardening at that time to help pay for this?

WS: Yeah.

BN: So that's tough, hard work in addition to the studies, huh?

WS: Not really.

BN: Now, I know you were involved in the Nisei Bruins. Was that something that existed, or were you one of the people that started that?

WS: I think I was one of the persons that started it.

BN: And what kinds of activities did you do?

WS: Oh, they wanted to do dances and stuff, social things.

BN: Were there a lot of Nisei there?

WS: Yeah, starting to.

BN: So mostly, so not so much political, but kind of more social activities?

WS: Yeah, social.

BN: And then can you tell us about CINO, also, which I believe you also were one of the founders of, right? Now, what does that stand for?

WS: California Intercollegiate Nisei Organization. We were trying to organize them so that we could have socials and meet people all over the state.

BN: So do you know how many colleges were involved in, were connected to that?

WS: Not too many. It was good. But at Manzanar, they would come to Manzanar.

BN: You went to Manzanar?

WS: Yes.

BN: While you were at UCLA?

WS: Yeah.

BN: Really? Was this like a large group that went out?

WS: They had that every year, they had that Manzanar pilgrimage.

BN: Oh, yeah, but this is years later.

WS: Yeah, right.

BN: So this is not during the time, during the '50s.

WS: It started in about the '80s.

BN: Yeah, yeah, we'll definitely get to that. There were also conventions and so forth that CINO put on. Do you remember much about those? I was reading one where you did a Negro History Week program and so forth.

WS: Yeah, I was kind of a radical person. [Laughs] Pushing things like that.

BN: But did you have a, kind of a consciousness about racism and so forth?

WS: I did, yeah.

BN: Where do you think that came from?

WS: It came from the radicals at UCLA.

BN: So you got politicized at UCLA?

WS: Yeah.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.