<Begin Segment 9>

JN: After thoughts. Today, how do you feel about the memorial and what happened to your family during World War II? You kind of suggested that it shaped your life. What... how do you think it really shaped your adult life and how you, how you raised your children?

YY: In looking back, and simply from growing older and having more life experiences and learning what's going on in the world, how people are treated, civil rights and all... it was injustice. You know, when you think of it. We were not given due process. I mean, you were... and President Roosevelt just invoked his emergency powers to... however, he was pressured by the public, especially those who were jealous of the Japanese successful in farming in arid areas. They irrigated and got productive farms, and it was economic competition. So that brought to bear... and there was a lot of discrimination and prejudice in California, which kind of shaped this whole thing, I believe. A lot more pressure there than in Oregon and Washington. So... and at that time, there were civil rights laws, maybe not the way it is today, but they didn't invoke those laws. The general sentiment was anti-Japanese, so people did not support us. Even, they talk about the "Quiet Americans"... and people today say, "Well, why didn't you speak up? Why didn't you fight it?" But the climate at that time didn't permit us to do that. I mean, who would support us except very few like Walt Woodward and Milly and maybe some church groups, but not enough to make the difference.

The other thing is the government kept it pretty hush-hush. People didn't know in the Midwest, back east, what was going on. I had met people in more recent years and when I tell them about the evacuation, oh, they didn't know anything about it. I mean, this one lady who came from Montana didn't know anything about it. More recently, this social studies teacher at one of, the high school where I work, and he was young, starting out, but he taught social studies and he was from Olympia, we got to talking one time, just informally. When I mentioned about my background and all that and about the evacuation, his ears perked up and he said, "You're the first person that I ever have known to have gone through this, the evacuation." Then, so he invited me to talk to his social studies class, classes, which I did. Since, after that, I talked to the other social studies teacher, the language arts teacher, you know, just to share, because they don't know what went on. The other interesting thing is, this one nurse that I worked with trained in Minneapolis, this Caucasian gal. She said while she was in training she noticed these Japanese girls coming into training. She didn't know where they were coming from and she finally found out why they were there. Because they didn't have Asians back there. I can't remember if it was Saint Mary's in Rochester or Minneapolis. Anyway, there. So it's interesting that Americans did not know.

The other thing is when we were in Idaho, at church, they said, "If you would like to receive letters from people on the outside, sign up on this sheet." So we signed up and eventually I started to get letters from all over the country, pen pals. And so that way we communicated and they knew we were in camp and all. Many of 'em, over the years, dropped out, lost interest, whatever. But this one lady wrote to me faithfully and eventually the letters stopped because I think maybe she got too old and got ill or passed away. This other person who was maybe a year younger than myself kept writing and we wrote just simple letters. Then she got married, had kids, I got married and had kids. One year, in '72, we went back East to Virginia to visit Bob's family and then we went into Pennsylvania to meet her and visit and we stayed with her for a couple nights, got acquainted. They took us around the Amish country, Lancaster and Philadelphia and all. So that's where we met face to face. And that was a pen pal. She wrote to me until she passed away.

JN: That's great.

YY: And there were people from different churches that would send us, like, gifts, you know, Christmas gifts. That was really appreciated because somebody on the outside was even aware and thinking about us.

JN: What would you like to say to the visitors of the memorial?

YY: Most of all, it really happened, and these are the things that happened to real people who had homes and property, you know, community. And I say to myself, what if someone said to me, "Okay, you have one week to dispose of your property and get out?" How would I feel? How would I manage? This is what our parents had to go through. They had a lot at stake. So, be more aware of civil rights and that this is a part of history, American history, that was... should not be forgotten, and that people need to know about this. It's just like when some people say, "The Holocaust never happened." Well, this is what they think about the internment. Did it really happen? Why is it important? Why do you keep talking about it? But you can't erase what happened in history.

JN: Yeah, and human nature makes... unless you get reminded often, it comes back again doesn't it?

YY: And we tend to forget, you know? I think we... and, basically what happened, it was racial profiling. That term wasn't there then, but it sure is today. That is what happened. Just because of your face... there was this one Chinese man, after Pearl Harbor, that was found dead in the alley in the International District because somebody thought he was Japanese. But it was a Chinese man that was killed. It was by face.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.