<Begin Segment 8>

LH: Well, I want to go a little bit more toward the last couple of days of the conference. Is there anything in the conference that you sort of feel needs to be corrected, or you feel that hasn't been really talked about?

BN: Yeah, I think people should realize that it's not the so-called leaders that did the, got the redress passed in Congress, it's the people themselves. Don't fool, don't fool yourself thinking that you played a major role. They did, maybe, but if it wasn't for the people, there wouldn't be any leaders. Period. So I have to remind these people that individuals are good, but the bottom line is the people behind them. And it's creating this atmosphere where the so-called leaders can operate.

LH: And as for NCRR, it's still together. I mean, what kind of goals does it have for the future?

BN: Well, NCRR, I'm not too active in it, but Kay Ochi was involved in the redress struggle, Richard Katsuda and a lot of the Sanseis, they're still working on the redress. They're working on the Latin American internees, and they've got, you know, that Phoenix people, that was in Phoenix at that time. They got all this redress stuff. And in fact, a lot of 'em, they won cases, where a lot of the attorneys in NCRR and people that the attorneys knew who worked towards this issue are still working. But in my case, I'm getting old and I have my grandchild and that's my life right now.

LH: Just to finish up, what do you think you'd like your granddaughter to learn from this experience of, you know, the camps and redress?

BN: I want her to feel proud of whatever background she's (from). I want her to be proud of her mother's background, who is, which is Mexican, and her father's background, which is Japanese American. And I want her to know what the Mexican American people did, and what the Japanese American people, and I want her to feel proud of that.

LH: Great. Thank you very much.

BN: Uh-huh.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.