<Begin Segment 30>

LH: Well, I still want to go back to this issue because of, sort of what you've been saying is how the Japanese American community really has been something special in terms of the way they've integrated. But really, how has that, how has that affected the way that both you and sort of other Nikkei have become part of the larger society and worked with primarily other ethnic communities, and also the Caucasian community, in Seattle first and across the nation?

FF: I think we had to, though. I think it... it happened because society changes and our interests and as our kids grow up, you want them to be part of the mainstream and to succeed and, and so you have no control over what the community is going to dictate anymore and you wish they could lean on the community. And I think that's the part that is sort of sad, because if I told my daughter now, why don't you join some... well, Ann, my one daughter, is very into community, but if all my other daughter who's not, but she's a mother and she's busy. But to get them into the Japanese American scene or to help out, the JACL has a young, a young group, within the, what's that group called the... not Densho Project but the...

LH: Mi-Yo-I-Kai?

FF: No, is that Mi-Yo-I-Kai, the younger group?

BK: I think they're Sansei.

FF: The Sansei group. I think that's great that... I was shocked when they said they were gonna have that, because I thought that was beautiful. And I wish if I had a younger daughter right out of high school, I would make them partake. But that way, there's sort of a way of learning through osmosis from the older people like us about what has happened, and they could refer on some of the past history and incidents and what our experiences have been and to perpetuate that memory, and I think that would be great. That's why I don't mind when I talk at community colleges and high schools and get emotional. And I was, felt even great 'cause when the non-ethnic groups would even have tears in their eyes after my talk, I feel real good because they really empathize and they, they're hurt that I went through my hurt and what my parents gone through. And I think that's... there's nothing wrong with that and I want my kids to feel that. But I think the whole conglomerate of community to be part of your growth pattern, I think that's passe now. I hate to say it, unless like you said, you go back into the community yourself and participate such as if there's an Asian newspaper you, you get involved with activities, you go to all the Bon Odoris, and the Asian cultural kinds of activities. Or the Japanese Nikkei community would be Nippon Kan Theatre, the odoris and the taiko groups and I like that. I think if we could keep on perpetuating that, not let it go, that's one way. And, but to make it a thing of the past like we've been through -- like before the war, is such a concentrated effort of togetherness, 'cause they had to, 'cause there was prejudice before the war.

So, and I think, when we talk about the word "prejudice," it's going to prevail. There's no such thing as -- you know, people talk about, we want to look at everybody as what they are and no color at all, but no, no. I don't buy that because when there's, when there's racial situations and you look like the enemy or you look like the one they're talking about, you become a question mark. You know, it's just like the political Huang, that guy that contributed to the government, to the Democratic party. I even hear people say yeah, you Asians, or you Chinese, thinking that I'm Chinese or some other person being Chinese that... it's not to say you get bitter about it, it's to say it's a reality and that you cope with it. And then you, if you can speak out about it, rather than to say let it go like maybe the past pictures of Niseis, where some of the Niseis would be first to say, "I better not make waves."

But I think you should make waves in your own way 'cause I like to think we're intelligent enough and we've proved ourselves enough. And that's another part of history, when you've proven yourself as a community and as a Nisei group from military to scholar to, as human beings. Hey, that's pretty good if you could name three things, some groups can't name those three things. So for me, yes, the community was real key when I was a teenager and, as I was pressured by the peer groups to continue on with my education, 'cause you know, your girlfriend may be going to college and you're going to say, "Am I going to be left behind? I better go." [Laughs] I think that's okay. I think that was my case in a sense. Although my good friends were always able to steer me the right way and I was a listener. I wasn't one of these that thought I knew everything and I think from that standpoint, I feel grateful. But I had my own mind about my likes and dislikes. I didn't care, as much as some of my friends drank and smoked I never did, because I was strong about that. Some of them were into rock music, country music, and I said, "I can't stand you guys," 'cause I'm a jazz buff. And I stood my ground and I feel, I still, I still do that way. People know me for what I am and I think that's okay. And I'm, I'm happy with myself that way.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.