<Begin Segment 18>

AI: Do you remember anything about any kind of reactions, or did anyone, your friends, any of your Caucasian classmates have any reaction, or say anything about you having to go?

RT: Some of them were sad. I don't think that they were necessarily alarmed, and I don't believe that they had that sense of it being an injustice. Not at all. However, because we were friends, I think that they did feel bad that we were all going to have to leave, and I think I remember that they even had a little farewell thing for just this little circle of women, girls at that time, that I ran around with. And, I don't recall that anybody said that, "This is wrong." I mean, they didn't come up and say, "Well, this is wrong." They felt that they would miss us, I guess maybe, but that was about the extent of it. At the other hand, on the other hand, they didn't gloat over us or anything like that. They didn't have that kind of reaction. No. It was just a parting, I guess you might call it. And none of the underlying ramifications were at all there.

AI: But that was something that it sounds like you were very conscious of, the injustice, the unfairness.

RT: I don't even know that I was. I think older, older Japanese Americans probably felt that. It's only as I've grown older, as I have had all these experiences since, and realized what had happened, that it was indeed an injustice. At that time, it was something that happened -- and that's a funny thing, 'cause we all accepted it. And I know, with all my heart, my kids would never, never have stood for it so I guess there's that progress. It would never happen to them. Yeah. But we all were very accepting, very cooperative, and of course, it's, "We will cooperate for the welfare of the country." I guess that was sort of the attitude that washed over us, and even as young as I was, it never, never felt that we should do anything against it. Of course, my mother always talked about it, but my mother was my mother, and she felt it was a wrong. I know she did. Yeah.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.