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IM: So we'll get to LTPRO in a bit, I think. But I want to circle back to this, what you mentioned about having fun in the collective. What kind of things did you do for leisure as a group or maybe with other people outside of the collective?

KM: Well, we didn't have a lot of money, because we didn't get a lot of money. WE all put our money together and we got like twenty-five dollars a week. So the main fun was really our house parties, so the different collectives had house parties. There were two or three collectives on the west side and then our collective. So people would have parties, and that was kind of the main way we had fun. But I remember going to like fundraisers and events like that, teatros in the Latino community. Of course, people like Chris and Joanne and Charlie, the three of them came out and went to events.

IM: Chris, Joanne and Charlie?

KM: Nobuko, now known as Nobuko, but the three of them would come out and do events, yeah. And I don't know if we went to concerts so much, I don't know if we could afford it. Mainly within community, community events. We put in our own events, street fairs or things like that. And I have to say that there were drugs involved in these parties. I remember at the collective one time, I think we always said it was kind of like putting people in charge of somebody else. It was like you're in charge now, make sure nothing bad happens, because somebody else is going to be either acid or something else. And so I remember one time somebody outside the collective said, "Okay, can you be in charge?" Because we didn't know who was going to be doing what. So that was part of it, too, I guess it's okay to say.

IM: So drugs were permissible within the...

KM: Yeah, they were, they were.

IM: Was there a particular reason why they were okay for such disciplined socialists?

KM: You know, well, I don't want to say names, but...

IM: You can if you want to.

KM: Certain leaders really were into, like, weed, for example. Really subscribed to the benefits of weed and clarity of thought and ideas, so weed was something that a lot of people did, and they felt that it gave them some insight. It didn't do anything for me.

IM: Didn't give you any insights?

KM: No. And then others, other leaders were into acid. And so dropping, and again, kind of like really taking off and getting deep into thought, looking at old photos, it was kind of like, I think because they saw the value in it. But it was part of the scene, it was part of the times, so it wasn't seen negatively.

IM: So would you say most people in the collective regularly partook?

KM: No.

IM: It was just kind of...

KM: It was mainly at times like that when there was relaxation or a party, not like every day, no. Maybe weed a bit, I think that was probably more often than not, but not acid, that takes too much time. You have to have a lot of time to drop acid.

IM: So all the while that, I guess, drugs are a part of the scene, you're also working to combat addiction in the community, right? Can you tell me more about that?

KM: Yeah. So I don't know if I talked about the Asian Community Drug Offensive?

IM: I think you did a little bit, yeah.

KM: About the teach-ins? So that's a little different because people were taking, overdosing on reds, barbiturates, really to escape, well, again, drugs are an escape. But to escape, and overdosing because of a lot of self hate, and a lot of younger people were doing that. So it was a little bit different in terms of motivation, I think, and the end result was also more disastrous. Most people didn't overdose on weed or... you could have a bad trip on acid, and there were, but mostly it was not as tragic, I suppose. So the drug problem was really the reds and barbiturates and heroin. So that was a lot more serious, and so that's why we had to campaign to stop the overproduction and to try to deal with what were some of the issues, why people were taking drugs, and try to educate our community not to hide away from problems.

IM: So as a result, this partially culminated in very visible things like Nisei Week, I think?

KM: Yeah, that was actually a really fun thing. I think it was a really good example of how to educate the community but in a way that's accessible. Because we all dressed up in yukatas, we actually created a dance, and we made a mikoshi that was the drug company Eli Lilly, so it looked like the Eli Lilly company and people carried it. And then we had Red Hots, which were like those red candies that looked like barbiturates. And so we created this dance and we threw the reds out, but it was, I can't remember what the song was, but it was something about Eli Lilly and reds. But it was sort of like trying to tell people a story about the drug problem, but in a way that fit in. Whereas the year before, or maybe it was the year after, was totally different. But Nisei Week were part of it, we did the dance, and people who actually were somewhat involved in the drug issue helped with joining in. So it was kind of interesting.

IM: Do you remember as you were organizing this dance and skit, who was responsible for coordinating certain parts of it? Did you choreograph the dance?

KM: No, I'm not a Japanese dancer. But we had a Japanese person that was a Japanese dancer, Vicky Kobayashi, and she was really tough. She knew how to dance, and she also knew how to dress people. So I learned how to put on the obi by myself, because she showed us how to do that. So it was really, a lot of people were involved, men as well. So we all gathered at the parking structure that doesn't exist now, but it was on, right behind First Street North, where First Street North is, there was a parking structure there. We gathered there, we assembled there, and I can't remember how many times we practiced. And Shinya was involved with it, and he was carrying the mikoshi. There are some pictures of that. And we went to the whole Nisei Week parade and just did the dance. I think she might have choreographed the dance.

IM: Do you remember what the reception was to the dance? There wasn't any kind of uproar against you people?

KM: No. We were never, we were throwing out the candy.

IM: Well, I guess the candy then makes them want to, I don't know, "Oh, these are the drugs?" Okay, so you did the Nisei Week performance, and then you attended trainings in San Francisco with other progressives on drug issues, is that correct?

KM: Yeah. It's kind of slightly... well, it was related to the drug problem. All of us were working around the drug problem because Shinya was there, Merilynne was there, Ellen Wong and Tamiko Hirano, and maybe one other person, I can't remember. We went to this training as a team, and that's where, actually people like Matulu Shakura and Atalah, they came out from New York. So they were part of this training, too, and other people in San Francisco, so we were up there doing this training. Don't ask me what the training was about, I do not remember. And I think it had something to do with the first influx of funding from the federal government around mental health and drug problems and things like that. So we got some training, and I think I talked about the Women's Center before, right?

IM: Yeah, and the kind of discussion around the vision for it, I guess, around the Asian Sisters.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.