<Begin Segment 18>

BN: I went through and read some of your pieces also, so I was going to ask you just about one or two of them.

DA: All right.

BN: One is, like, written from the perspective of a Sansei young man having these discussions with older Nisei about the times. And from what you've said, it sounds, I mean, was that based on you and your dad and uncle, it sounds like?

DA: Real experiences, that's right. My dad, my mom and other people. So I was just coming from the point of view of, I thought those kind of conversations were happening. And so I just wanted to at least indicate that, hey, this is what's kind of going on. And not try and force feed somebody, and just trying to come from a little bit different place, not be so, beating on your head kind of thing. There were some activists that liked to do that, right? But that wasn't my style, and that was kind of the thing, too, about the group of people. It was part of the process and where you're coming from and just trying to be honest and transparent. And if you're that, then whatever it is that's coming out is true. And even if it's, maybe you don't like what you're hearing, but at least it's honest and it's, yeah, it's coming from the heart. How bad can that be? So yeah, in that talk with that imaginary Nisei, I was just trying to get across different points, and I was trying to give their points as well.

BN: It's interesting that you don't vilify them, you just agree to disagree at the end, basically.

DA: Because that's real life, right? And that maybe I would have brought up some points that others might not have thought about and vice versa.

BN: Which raises the obvious question, what did your parents and family think about, not just that article, but just the whole Gidra experience?

DA: Oh, my dad did not like it at all. Not at all. He thought I was going off the deep end. Of course, it didn't help that I was letting my hair grow real long, becoming a hippie musician, I was smoking weed and so were a lot of my friends, coming home. I was working at, part-time at a liquor store in Crenshaw, and getting to sound like I'm from Crenshaw. Started to sound like a Black person, and my mom is going, "Oh, can't you talk normal?" [Laughs] I'm going, "Aren't I talking normal?"

BN: "What happened to the Eagle Scout?"

DA: Yeah. But I think, as time went on, they saw, and the more we talked, I think the more they understood. And though my dad didn't like it, he finally came to understand.

BN: And the other thing I wanted to ask is what was your relationship -- not you personally, but Gidra in general, to, like, the Rafu Shimpo or other, the mainstream Japanese American media, if any?

DA: I don't know that we had any.

BN: You kind of were going on parallel separate tracks.

DA: Yeah, definitely on separate tracks. I don't know that we had...

BN: So you didn't really have run-ins or anything like that, you just went, each going your own way.

DA: Right. It's not like we were robbing advertisers from them.

BN: Right. Distinctly different audiences.

DA: Distinctly.

BN: And then where... I know it started at UCLA, but I think probably by the time you came along, it was off of campus. Was that true?

DA: Actually, I think it got off campus not long after I started.

BN: And then where did it go?

DA: It went into Crenshaw. So there was a... I'm not sure who knew who, but where Kobe's Pharmacy was on the corner of Jefferson and Fourth? Anyways, it's a small strip mall, and we were able to rent a small office space there. And that's basically where we ended up. Is that right? No, we moved once. Oh god, this is a little foggy.

BN: But you did have an, kind of a dedicated office space?

DA: But we did have an office. We had a dedicated office. And actually, Visual Communications' office was in that same strip mall after a while. And so I know guys were kind of dipping between the two, like Duane and Alan Ohashi.

BN: So you were able to generate apparently enough revenue to be able to rent this office?

DA: And again, I'm not sure where all that money came from.

BN: We'll ask Mike about that, but yeah.

DA: He ought to remember that. But yeah, lot of sleepless nights in that office.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.