<Begin Segment 24>

BY: I just want to know about this rock throwing incident at Southcenter. I don't think I know that story. Can you just tell us what happened and when it happened?

TH: Oh, about six months ago now. I was at this stoplight, just as you drive into Southcenter, and a Black girl with a poodle walking across the street, and she leans down -- you know, the dog could run out in the street. But anyway, she bends down, gets a handful of rocks, and she throws them. And I thought, well, what's she doing? And it hit my car, and then she bent down again and got some bigger rocks and threw it again. Anyway, so then I knew that she was aiming at me. And so then the light changed, so I drove into Southcenter parking lot. And the man behind me followed me in a black, a big nice car, and I didn't think anything of it. And he says, "I really want to comment on, you didn't lose your temper." And I said, "Well, I was so shocked, I didn't have time." He said, "If that was me, I would have beat the... out of her." And I said, well, "A woman you would?" And he says, "Yeah. If she hit my car," -- he had a nice car -- because that second handful would have broken the window... because she had big rocks. Anyway, and then I went into Southcenter to see my friend, she works in the cosmetics. And she wasn't there, so I was telling this young girl, "When Dolly comes, will you tell her what happened to me?" And this girl starts crying and she hugs me, she says, "I'm so sorry." And then I thought it must have been serious. So she called their security (and told him), because it's right near Southcenter, their Nordstrom's. And he didn't come right away, but later on, when I was still talking to her, I was there maybe half an hour because she thought Dolly would be coming back. Anyway, he wanted to know if I would file charges, "I got a picture of her." Because, you know, Black girl with a white poodle walking, it was easy to spot. It was lucky he saw her. He said, "Don't you want to file charges?" And I said, "I don't ever want to see her again," but actually I should have. Because about a month later, one of the other security guards said, "Are you the person that had this problem?" And I said, "Yes." He said, "We had another occasion, and I wish that you two" -- and this other girl didn't want to file charges either." But anyway, just for the protection of the Asians.

BY: So did she say anything to you or just throw the rocks?

TH: Just threw the rocks.

BY: And the second person who was targeted was also Asian?

TH: (Yes). He was a Caucasian man (that followed me).

TI: But I wanted to follow up. You said, later on, did this woman do something later?

TH: Apparently, because the security said, "We had another occasion, and we asked her if she wanted to file charges," and she didn't want to, she was like me, never wanted to see her again.

BY: And that person was also Asian?

TH: Yes, uh-huh.

BY: But they got a picture of her somehow?

TH: Well, this first security man found her. He went right away after that girl told him.

BY: Interesting, wow.

TH: If you ever see a Black girl with a white poodle, don't stop.

BY: That sounds a little like racial profiling. [Laughs] Wow, that's scary.

TH: You know, another thing that happened when we were in Vale, it was soon after we went there, the fellows and they were all pretty young yet, too. They decided they wanted to go for a ride so they drove, from Vale that you could get to Bend. I don't know how far. But when they got to Bend, the people there called the FBI and picked them up. I never want to see Bend again, myself, it must be a nice place, though. But the FBI kept the car and drove them back to Vale and brought them home, but they kept the car to search it for contrabands or whatever they searched.

TI: That's what I thought. I thought Bend was...

BY: Was Bend in or out? Must be right about in the dividing line.

TI: Yeah, I always thought Bend was outside the zone, but we'll have to look. Do you know why? Is it because they were just, they were suspicious?

BY: Yeah, four Asian men driving around, suspicious, yeah.

TI: Because I think they were outside the zone.

BY: Well, isn't that Zone 2? We're not supposed to be in Zone 2?

TI: Yeah, so was that zone...

BY: I would think so. Because from Salem, it's not too far from Salem.

TI: I always think of the mountains and they're on the east side, but...

BY: Yeah, I don't know where it would be located, but it must have been off limits.

TI: Well, so (Toshiko), that's all the questions we have, and you did a wonderful job. Hopefully it wasn't too hard or too painful.

BY: You did great.

TH: I did?

BY: Absolutely, yeah.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.