<Begin Segment 14>

BY: So we've talked a lot about your involvement with a lot of different organizations. I want to spend a few minutes talking, having you reflect on what that all means to you. So the first question is what inspires all of this activism? Why do you do that? Why do you do it?

SS: Oh, gosh. Well, I guess it goes up to, goes back to my upbringing. So I was raised in a Christian household, although I'm not religious myself, and I probably lean more towards Buddhism than Christianity. But I was raised with the idea that, to treat others as you would want them to treat you. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That everyone is created equal and every person deserves respect. And the idea that the U.S. is supposed to be a beacon of light that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence should mean something, it shouldn't just be words on paper and that at its best, the ideals are something that it's worth working towards. So, and then there's personal experiences like watching the border patrol come and take people away from my raspberry crew and trying to figure out why the government would do that. What had these people done? Watching the Vietnam War on TV, I was too young to go. Although the draft ended the year after I turned eighteen. So actually I was fortunate my draft number was high enough that I didn't have to submit to that. But if I had been one year older with the same draft number, I would have been drafted. And then also watching stuff on TV in the news about the Civil Rights Movement and Black Panthers and then reading stuff that my sister sent me, and Gidra, and learning about Asian American history in general, but the camps experience in particular. Kind of, not just piqued my interests, but also stirred something inside about, kind of outrage that this could happen in a country that espouses such different ideals. And then wondering... and therefore wondering what can be done to change that, to make "never again" a reality. And I know that one individual can't solve all the problems, and so there needs to be some focus to what you do. So I guess my focus has been the Japanese American community in particular, through JACL and Tsuru and NVC and taiko and Asian American community in general through APALA, and a lot of things we get involved in with those other organizations. Because we always try to make coalitions and work with other groups. And I guess the... it's also the economic, social, political, economic study that I did with, at Stanford, taking courses, an econ course on Marxism, taking a sociology course with St. Drake. And the Chicano lit course that Castillo taught, and the one on the Shtetls, the Eastern European Jews in the Pogroms period, kind of exposed me to a lot of other communities and struggles. And then being in the Asian Student Union at UC Berkeley, with all these questions rolling around in my head, really helped solidify the idea that organizing is important, that you need to get more people involved, educated and involved. That knowing something isn't enough, that you have to get people to actually do something.

BY: How important is your Japanese American identity to you?

SS: Japanese American identity. Well, I don't know, it's the basis of my being, I guess you would say. I mean, I've always known I was Japanese American, and I've always been proud of that. And I know some of my people in my cohorts through high school, even in my family, I know have had problems with that, partially because of the "model minority" myth, partially because of general racism against Asians. I feel fortunate that I've always felt comfortable and proud of being Japanese American.

BY: Do you feel that your parents either modeled that or instilled that in you?

SS: Well, not on a conscious level. They never said something like, "You should be proud you're Japanese American." But I think my dad modeled what it means to be a good person in terms of respecting others, treating others equally as the owner, the farmer, you know, the owner and the manager, he was in a higher position, so to speak. But when he went out in the field to talk with the workers, it was never condescending or ordering them around, and he was always respectful and treated people like equals. I think they appreciated that.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.