<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So, Homer, what do you think about my generation? So we kind of think differently, right? And so do you think it's a loss for the community? Or do you have concerns about how the younger generations... it's kind of like maybe the immigrant story in America. The Olympics are going right now, and I'm looking at these Asian American gold medalists who are, you know, their parents were immigrants and so they're kind of like the Nisei generation. And the Japanese American community, we're now in the Sansei, Yonsei, Gosei.

HY: Yeah.

TI: From your perspective, what do you see going on with the Japanese American community?

HY: Well, I think that the Sansei, your generation, is fine, and mainly because of the Nisei touch. [Laughs] We touched our parents' ethos, okay, so you know, you've heard of it, even if you don't know that, you know where we come from. But I think it's your kids' generation and on, that they don't have that same flow of, I don't know what you call it, ethnicity, I mean, ethnic behavior. And being right, being good and all that, I don't think it's the same. So I think that your generation is fine, but after your generation, it's falling apart, it's different. And I think it's because so many of them are now Anglicized and being outmarried and got so many influences from the outside. Before, we were quite insular, but that no longer is true. I'm very insular; my parents were very, even more so. And you guys are, too, a little bit, because you still consider yourself Nikkei. But I don't know, after your generation, what they consider themselves. That I don't know.

BY: So for you, what does it mean to you to be Japanese American?

HY: I think Japanese Americans should be very proud of themselves and what we have accomplished and what we've done in this, considering all the stuff that was thrown at us, I think we've done very, very well.

BY: So didn't you, at one point, said something about... so I guess if you had your choice to be white or Japanese American --

HY: Well --

BY: No, you tell me. [Laughs]

HY: Well, yes. If I had my choice, well, sure, I'd rather be white. Because, hey, even if the whites don't understand what privileges they had, they do have the privileges, even if they don't acknowledge it. They have far more than I do even today. But since it's manifestly impossible for me to be white, then I choose to be what I am today, Japanese American.

BY: Okay.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.