<Begin Segment 11>

BY: And were you involved in your children's school activities at all?

JK: Yeah.

BY: What kinds of things did you do?

JK: Well, you become the homeroom mother if you have a kid in a certain room. And basically did PTA stuff like other mothers do.

BY: So I understand that you eventually served on the Seattle School Board. Can you tell me about when that was and how that happened?

JK: When was that? I was on the school board for eight years.

BY: Eight years?

JK: Yeah. The terms are four years, so two terms. Well, I don't know how to... you know, it was part of whatever I did. I don't really think of it as anything that special.

BY: But it meant that you had to go out and campaign, is that right?

JK: Yeah.

BY: It was an elected office, it meant that you had to do public speaking, it meant that you had to represent the school district. So what made you decide to do that?

JK: What made me decide to do that? Well, I just thought it was would be an experience that would be fulfilling for myself as well as trying to help the general public.

BY: Were there any other women of color who were on the school board at the same time?

JK: No.

BY: Were you like the only one with a bunch of white guys, do you recall?

JK: Well, there were other women on there. There were, like, two or three other women on there. There were two or three other women, I think.

BY: But they were white women? So did you ever feel like, "Oh, I'm a pioneer"?

JK: No, not necessarily. I think I never felt like I was a pioneer or anything other than just the participation was just an important part for me. Because it was just like taking, or getting involved in any other kind of activity where you felt that it would make a difference.

BY: So it sounds like that was an important value to you.

JK: Oh yeah, I thought so.

BY: Is that something that you tried to pass on to your children?

JK: Uh-huh.

BY: And have they also been involved in community activities as well?

JK: I think in their own ways, yeah.

BY: All right. So I also understand that you were involved with the JACL. Can you tell me about that?

JK: Oh, yeah. Well, JACL was an important part because it was supporting the Japanese in a way that the JACL can, which is to support different Japanese in their activities and letting people be involved in a group that was Japanese. And with Japanese issues, Japanese concerns, and I think that's important that you get involved in your own ethnic group.

BY: Were you involved in JACL around the time of the redress movement, do you recall?

JK: I can't remember.

BY: Okay, I was just wondering if you were active at that point.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.