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BN: One of the things that struck me, coming from the mainland, was how strong community support was among the Japanese community, of course, or just in general. I wondered what... and this is after, as you have explained, kind of, there was this indifference or lack of knowledge. There was no interest in this story for, like, fifty, sixty years, and then all of a sudden there was this community embrace. What do you think changed, and why at that particular time did this all happen? Without using the "s" word.

JK: [Laughs] Yeah, I think something about... well, not just Hawaii, with all people, I think. Once you become aware of the deep roots below, and real truths, then you want to help. I think that's kind of maybe what happened. So all we did was bring it to awareness. And the JACS grants enabled us to make those films, do the curriculum. And then when Carole came on board, she took the film, and she went all over, literally, the West Coast and the other islands. So then the awareness really grew. Because once people were educated as to what happened there, even though it only happened to thirteen hundred people, then it's right from wrong and hurt from... justice from injustice, and people begin to see it in a bigger light. And that's when it grew. The JACS grants even affected the kids when we allowed them to do their own projects based upon what they learned about the internment.

Did I already share with you what some of those, at least one of those kids, when he graduated from Kaimuki High and went to college on the mainland, what he did. Oh, okay, this is Premsak, he was in the group that went down to Honouliuli. He became inspired, he was part of the Kaimuki High School group that wrote persuasive letters to President Obama and so on. They also went out and got the signatures for a petition, and they really helped him that way, and they really got involved. And so when Sally Jewell came, we invited them to be sure to come. And then Premsak went away to Creighton, and he was taking some kind of a history course and the professor was talking about internment. And he talked about the mainland, but he didn't talk about Hawaii. And good old Premsak, he says, [raises hand]. And he not only suggested that they talk about the Hawaii internment, but then he filled them in on the internment because the professor didn't know. And so we heard the following year -- because the librarian kept in touch with him -- we heard the following year, he was invited to sit on the Day of Remembrance committee, which was.. usually only the faculty sat on that committee. But they invited Premsak to join them.

BN: This is in, at Creighton?

JK: Creighton.

BN: They had a Day of Remembrance in Nebraska?

JK: They had a Day of Remembrance in Nebraska. [Laughs] And so...

BN: So the story gets out.

JK: The story gets out. Another one we heard about, what happened in Colorado. Because we had a bunch of students come from Colorado, and the professor, and he explained why they were there, they were studying Hawaii internment. And I said, "By the way, do you know Cokie?" And they said, "Yeah." [Laughs] And apparently she was spreading the word up there, too.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.