Densho Digital Repository - David Sakura Interview II (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-513-11)

<Begin Segment 11>

VY: Okay. So how long were you actually the president of the New England chapter of the JACL?

DS: Well, I have to admit that I sort of disappeared behind the screen because I think we had accomplished our objective, and I think we had to, I think Gary Glenn and Evelyn (Nakano) Glenn, his wife, had to move on. Evelyn has gone on to distinguish herself as a professor of women's studies at Cal Berkeley. Gary Glenn has since, unfortunately, passed away. But at that point, we had careers to pursue, but I continued to speak on the internment and on redress. And as things evolved on the pilgrimages and Minidoka and the like.

VY: Yeah, so maybe it's a good time to start talking about that. You and this group of individuals, basically, you reinvigorated the New England JACL and you did the hard work of working on redress, and you kind of laid the foundation for the next group of people to kind of come along and keep everything moving. And you all went on to do other work, and one of the things that you went on to do, in addition to your career, was to... you were involved in a couple of things. You were involved in camp preservation work, and also in giving talks. I know you've done quite a lot of that.

DS: Yes, yeah.

VY: What would you like to talk about first?

DS: Over the years, it began pre-redress, as part of this consciousness-raising effort to talk about the internment of Japanese Americans. But then continued to talk about the internment story, its implications, but also the role of the pilgrimages and hopefully some closure on the internment issue, or what's the future of the internment issue, especially during, let's say, the attack on September, 9/11, on September 11th, and the growing hostility towards the Muslims' population. And then the pilgrimages that began, and subsequently some of the threats to the Minidoka National Historic Site. So in a way, the fight continues, and the story needs to be told. And my most recent presentation was to a library group in southern New Hampshire just last month.

VY: And how did that go? You've been doing this for quite some time, and I wonder if the audiences to your presentations have changed, or if the questions they ask have changed, or are they kind of the same? Do people seem to have a different perspective or more knowledge about what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II? Have you noticed any?

DS: Yes. I think about the early times that I spoke to different groups. I once went to the University of Vermont to an Asian American student group, and I don't think the internment story was widely disseminated at that time. That was 1980, '81. So that's thirty years ago, over thirty, almost forty years ago. But the story is more widely known by individuals, by schools. And also I've been asked by students to be interviewed as part of their project. And this continues over the past years that I'll give a personal interview to a student who is writing a paper on the internment. And even last month, the New Hampshire Humanities Foundation gave a large grant to set up a reading program during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and that eleven libraries subscribe to this grant, receive this grant, and they featured a reading group all reading the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. So from a story that's little-known to here in little old New Hampshire, the Plaistow (N.H.) Public Library sponsored a reading group to discuss one single group and then brought Jamie Ford, the author of the book, to speak to sell-out crowds here in New Hampshire. So even here in the wastelands, the internment story is being heard.

VY: Well, also, it's so encouraging to hear about this grant that is allowing all these libraries to have this kind of a program at a time, right now, when books are being banned in schools.

DS: Well, yes, yes. So... and what's encouraging, that there are stalwarts that I've met in the library system that really defend their right to reading a wide range of books. So the fight evolves. But getting back to Minidoka, I think the threats are still there.