Densho Digital Archive - Henry Miyatake Interview I (denshovh-mhenry-01-0006)

<Begin Segment 6>

TI: What neighborhood did you grow up in? Where...

HM: My earliest residence was on 9th and Washington, we had a grocery store there. Then, we went to Yesler and 9th Avenue, we had a grocery store there, Sun Grocery. Then we moved to 14th and Yesler, no, sorry, 14th and East Spruce and we had a grocery store there.

TI: Let's go to your elementary school experiences. Why don't you tell me some of your memories from elementary school. Where did you go? Any thoughts about teachers?

HM: I went to Bailey Gatzert Elementary School like lot of the other Nikkei kids did. And it's located on 12th and I guess, what is that?

TI: Weller?

HM: Yeah, Weller and Lane, between Weller and Lane. I guess most of the Nikkei kids went there but they were mainly Japanese American kids, Chinese American kids, and a slight smattering of Caucasians, very slight. The principal there was Ada J. Mahon, and she was a staunch American in the true sense. Singing "Star Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America" and we marched to the "Stars and Stripes Forever" and all the John Phillip Sousa marches. And you march out of the school everyday, hearing this "Stars and Stripes Forever" and all this kind of marching music. Kind of indoctrinating us on how to become a good American, I guess. And she did a helluva good job. In fact, she did such a good job that we weren't able to see the perspective of being Japanese American. We were trying to be so totally American that it prevented us from looking at our parents' culture and truly reflecting on what we could gain by being both Japanese and American.

TI: And when you think about this indoctrination that you're talking about, it sounds like a large majority of the Japanese American kids went to Bailey Gatzert so a large majority of them got the same indoctrination that you're talking about.

HM: Yeah, unfortunately. I don't think we knew we were getting indoctrinated but that was what was happening. As I look back on the process, in fact I was so indoctrinated that I -- when we got through with the sixth grade I made a speech that I couldn't -- I guess from my viewpoint today I thought, "Gee, did I make that crazy speech?" But I made a speech about the future of Japanese Americans. [Laughs] And I had absorbed all the stuff that the principal had inculcated us with. I was more like Mike Masaoka at that time period. [Laughs] I hate to say that but...

TI: Explain to me. What did you say in your sixth grade speech?

HM: Well, I said that, "America is the best place in the world, and that the American democratic process was superb and without comparison with any country in the world. Our future was as bright as it could be. We have unlimited possibilities and potential," and all this kind of stuff and that... my brother kind of helped me on the speech and he thought I was going overboard. [Laughs] But nonetheless, the principal liked it. As I look back, I wonder to myself, was I that propagandized to the point where I couldn't see anything else but what I was taught? Maybe this kind of flipped over when I went to high school because of the things that I had experienced in that time period.

TI: Going back to the sixth grade speech, to whom did you give that speech to?

HM: It was for the whole student body. And that was the assembly program for the graduation of the sixth grade before it went to junior high school.

TI: So this was... were you sort of like the valedictorian... or how were you chosen to give this speech?

HM: [Laughs] Well, I was chosen because one of the teachers liked some of the stuff I was writing and she thought maybe I had some, some capabilities in this area and she wanted to encourage it. There were several of us that made this kind of crazy, I shouldn't say crazy, but this kind of speech.