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Title: Shigeko Sese Uno Interview
Narrator: Shigeko Sese Uno
Interviewers: Beth Kawahara (primary), Alice Ito (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: September 18, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-ushigeko-01-0029

<Begin Segment 29>

BK: Going back to kind of a political arena, at the time that the concept of redress arose, what were your feelings?

SU: Well, I felt very strongly that we should get the pardon, to be, not pardon, but an acknowledgment by the government that they did wrong. And then when it came to the money, part, I was all for it. And I had friends who refused to even sign up, especially one man, businessman in the street, would say, "Well, it's a haji." It's a shame to ask for money. I said, "That's the only way the government would understand, when they have to acknowledge that they did wrong. Maybe $20,000 isn't enough." But I said, "Go ahead and sign up. If you get your money, donate it to church or some charitable organizations, if you don't want the money yourself." But I had so many children, that I could've used it. And then my friends told me, so many of them, by that time they had grandchildren, and so they would give the redress money to their grandchildren. "Aren't you going to do that, Shigeko?" I said, "I certainly would like to, but I have seventeen grandchildren. If I divided $20,000 among seventeen grandchildren, they're not going to get much, anyway." [Laughs]

BK: So you have seventeen grandchildren? Isn't that wonderful?

SU: And twenty great-grandchildren.

BK: Twenty?

SU: Of course, the great-grandchildren are all small, yet.

BK: But still, isn't that --

SU: But I'm proud of my grandchildren. Let's see, all of them went to college. In my family, too, every one of us went on to college, even though some of us didn't finish, but at least we got that chance. Even my two brothers in Japan, they all went to college. My father was able to provide for all of them. And for that, he believed so much in education, that was so important, that he really helped us. And we didn't have to worry about money at all that way.

BK: And that still seems to be a strong family value. If all seventeen --

SU: Yes.

BK: Of your grandchildren also have gone on to college?

SU: Yes.

BK: It's amazing.

SU: And we don't have to push them, either. Some families, they said, well they bought a car for their son, so he would be going to college. Well, I couldn't even afford things like that. But you just naturally grow up, and if they're with friends, school friends that are going on to college, too, that makes a difference. Because they would be asking each other, "Which college are you going to?" and things like that.

BK: Right. Absolutely.

SU: So...

BK: Well, that's wonderful. What a legacy. One last question about the redress. What role, or roles, did you play in the whole redress movement?

SU: Well, I couldn't, well, I did the paperwork, the mailing out. But there were people like Cherry Kinoshita who went after all the negative type of politicians, in this state alone, that she would corner them. She would go after them over and over. So for people like that, when they would have fundraisers, I would always be helping at the fundraisers. And that's another thing I learned, is when you want to get politically active, and you want these politicians to help you, you can't just -- voting is right, fine. You have to vote. But they need more than votes. They need that financial aid. And if we get into the habit of helping them financially, they're going to remember you. Really. And you have to sacrifice a little bit.

BK: Right.

SU: Look at the way we spend our money anyway, carelessly. You might as well give it to where it counts. And life is politics. Very definitely. I think we're, slowly, the Japanese people are slowly getting used to that idea that we have to support candidates that we want.

BK: Absolutely.

SU: Really.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.