<Begin Segment 10>

BF: So as, there's this huge coverage of the hearings and as the Nikkei community started coming out for the hearings, did you notice a change in the attitude, people getting, I don't know, more open about redress, or their experiences in camp, and then more supportive of redress?

CT: Oh, yeah. And I think a lot of people, because of the hearings, you know, started to get involved and trying to help us get letters. And you know, they started to do some of these things that they weren't doing before. So I keep saying that that was the thing that gave our whole movement momentum.

BF: The hearings?

CT: Yeah.

BF: It kind of brought people together.

CT: Yes, it did.

BF: What about its impact on the non-Nikkei community? With all this press coverage, do you feel as though, you know you changed any hearts and minds among the non-Nikkei?

CT: Oh yes, absolutely. Absolutely and I -- many, many people mentioned it to me, and they said, "Gee, we didn't know what had happened to you," and you know, that's the thing. I have to tell you this. It's because when I first went to Chicago and to the University of Wisconsin, people would say, "Where are you from?" I never told them I was in camp. I was too ashamed to tell them that. And, but after this happened, of course, after the commission hearings, well, since everybody knew about it, then I was able to say, well, yeah, and describe to them what the situation was and what conditions we lived under and things like that. So it was... it kind of opened it all up for me.

BF: So you really changed a bit yourself during this whole process?

CT: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, it was a catharsis. Uh-huh.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.