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BN: But then so NCRR was formed in November of '80, the Commission, the CWRIC bill was earlier that year, and then the hearings are coming in the summer of '81. But you were involved in that, right?

KM: Yes, so I was involved in NCRR trying to be, go to the meetings and keep up with stuff. My mother had scleroderma, she kind of quit her job at the end of December, Mayumi had just been born. She came home, I mean, she stayed at home and really declined until May when she passed away. So from January to May, my father, my sister and I were sort of taking turns being with her. So Mayumi was a baby, and I'm trying to keep abreast of what's going on, so I was working on the slideshow, I think, so there was a slideshow, I don't know what I was doing, I was listening to it, whatever. So I had this slideshow and I was listening to it, and then there was, preparing for the commission hearings, and talking about the need for people to testify if we don't get enough people. And so then I thought, "You know what? I should testify for my family," and I said, "I think everybody should testify for their family, because everybody's story is different. So that's when I called my... my mother had passed, actually, by that time, it was after May. And so I just called family members to find out a little more history and to prepare. So now in July or June, I decided I'm not going to go back to teaching, there's no way I could teach with a small child. So I get a job with Little Tokyo Service Center, and they're what they call the Escort Translation Program. Because I spoke a little Japanese, I could coordinate the program with Japanese-speaking calls and set up translators and escort people that could speak, set those things up. So I drove some of the people, actually, Issei, to the hearings using the escort van from Little Tokyo Service Center. So it kind of worked out well, but it was a rough period emotionally. Because with my mother passing, having a baby, and then the commission hearing, it's like, it became very, like everything kind of fell into it, and the meaning of it. So it was very emotional. On top of the fact that it was emotional just listening to everybody testify. But I took Mayumi to the hearings because it was at night and I had her, and my sister was with me, but I testified at the hearings. So I felt that that was important.

BN: Were you able to hear all the other testimony of people?

KM: You know, I don't think I was, because I was working part-time at Little Tokyo Service Center, so I couldn't be there. I didn't feel I could be there the whole time, and I think Mayumi was at the babysitter, but I was only working half a day. So I was there as much as I could be. I don't think I ever sat down, I was always at the doorway. I don't know if I ever got a seat, because it was filled whenever I got there. Yeah. So I don't even know if I was at some of the gatherings at lunchtime, because, again, I was working, juggling.

BN: Were there any moments that you, that stick in your mind of testimony or anything, the Lillian Baker incident or anything that really sticks out?

KM: It's weird now, because I've seen the tape so many times that I don't remember when I was there and when I wasn't there. It's like I feel like I was there for all of it, do you know what I mean? But I know I was there with Hector, who was Japanese Peruvian, because I think we encouraged him to testify. Not too many people knew Japanese Peruvians, but we knew him. So we encouraged him to testify and I felt like I was sitting next to him, so I remember him. I remember Iwan Yoshida, especially talking to him afterwards because his family was with him, and he really was looking for his father. So it's being around, I remember. I kind of remember some of the Nisei that joined NCRR like the Tom Shiroishi and I don't know about Jim Saito, but Tom Shiroishi. You know, so meeting some people like that that kind of came across NCRR at the hearings, that's the kind of stuff I remember. Then I remember, of course, the overflow rooms where we ended up. I don't think I was in the room as much as I wanted to be.

 BN: Were you involved at all with JACL?

KM: As an organization?

BN: Yeah, at the time in terms of organizing the testimony and so forth. Because I know there was different visions.

KM: I wasn't involved in terms... there was some conflict with some JACL supporters or people were doing a slideshow? I forget. There was some conflict over that, but I was working at LTSC and JACL was right upstairs, and John Saito was a wonderful collaborator and supporter. We would use their copy machine to make copies from LTSC. So we'd go up there making copies of the testimonies, and then Harry Kawahara and (Phil Shigekuni) were the two people that were organizing the JACL testifiers. So they, sometimes we'd cross paths, but we always felt very friendly with them. They were great to work with, as was John. So I didn't deal with the people that we had negative relationships with, but those folks. So that was my kind of relationship with JACL during the hearings.

BN: As it's happening, do you have a sense of its significance or the historical impact? I mean, is that something that you could kind of feel as it's happening?

KM: Well, it's hard to separate the tapes from the real thing, but yes. Yeah, I mean, everybody was very serious about it and also somewhat intimidated by the panel of commissioners. So in that way, it was very, we knew it was very important. How significant? I don't know, because I was just blown away by what I was hearing, the different testimonies. Again, it's hard for me to separate the tapes from real life, but it's like, I feel like every time I listened to them, I'm listening for the first time, sort of. So yeah, it feels like everything was very electric. Well, I mean, there were times when it was like, you're just standing there listening, but very moving, very... you knew it was like people speaking for the first time, so it was very momentous.

BN: What do you remember about your, when you gave your own testimony. Do you remember who were you looking at or any of that?

KM: Yeah.

BN: Were you giving Lungren stink-eye?

KM: I was so nervous. And because it was very late and they had said that they wanted people to speed up. I think Lungren might have been the chair at that moment. And I could kick myself now, because I got intimidated by that, and I was already intimidated by the whole thing. And then being told that we got to speed up, so I sped up. I spoke too fast, and I feel like I'd never do that again, because you're testifying, you're saying something that's important, and should not be rushed, like Jim said. "I will not be rushed," and I let myself be rushed, so I was really mad after that. Now when I look at it, it's like...

BN: And then were you able to attend any of the other hearings in other parts of the country?

KM: No. No, I was not. You know, we had another hearing, though, a Senate hearing later at UCLA, I think. So we were there for that.

BN: This was for one of the bills?

KM: It could have been, but people testified.

BN: Yeah. Because there were...

KM: Ted Stevens convened that one.

BN: Yeah, kind of subcommittees hearing, legislation, redress legislation, so it could have been that.

KM: Yeah, but we mobilized for that as well.

BN: In L.A.?

KM: Yeah, I think we had a bus that took people there, because we had a lot of people go and then, of course, we had our own people testify, like Gordon... Tokumatsu? No, Gordon, anyway.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.