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FK: You know, you go out to school quite a bit with me, you go out to school quite a bit with me, what's important to you for the children to -- not only children of Japanese descent -- but all children, what's important to you, the message they get from us going out and talking to them?

GN: Well, first of all, what you're doing, I think, the message is pretty, pretty clear by observing, observing these kids. There's very few restless kids during your presentation, whether you have it one hour or five hours. And the questions they ask is pretty impressive to me. I think, I think those kids, what they're learning from you through your presentation, it'll stick to them.

FK: What do you think they're learning?

GN: Pardon?

FK: What do you think they're learning?

GN: Learning?

FK: Yeah, what do you think they're learning?

GN: Well, American history. Like you say, from a different point of view what happened to us, and hope it doesn't happen again. But yeah, I've been doing it for thirteen years at least. I remember the first one I went to was Tacoma. Think it was Tacoma Baptist? I remember you asked me to go, I hesitated to go because I didn't want to talk about it. But the more and more I get involved with your presentations, I'm comfortable talking about it, even with the coworkers I work with. Some of the coworkers, they weren't even born. I remember one kid says, "It was the right thing to do," I said, "What do you mean? I'm American just like you are." I don't know what he meant by that. Some of them will say, "Well, it was to protect you."

FK: What did you answer to that?

GN: Pardon?

FK: What did you answer to that when he said it was to protect us?

GN: Well, they put us in camp, yeah, but never believed by being in concentration camp. He says, and then I says, "You work for a company that's owned by Japanese that were evacuated," he didn't say a thing. So I... but I can truthfully say if I hadn't gone with you on these presentations, I can pretty much stand up for myself. What you've said, I learned a lot, just by the reactions of the, of the kids and even adults we've had. I was impressed when we went to Blanchett High School, it was Martin Luther King Day, I think. And there was at least nine hundred kids there, and what you were saying, you can hear a pin drop. Those things, I think the more and more you do it, all the generations you present your slides to, that's important for their kids, like my granddaughter, she learned a lot, that class of elementary school in Redmond, and she was so impressed. That's the reason we went to Whidbey Island couple months ago. I talked to Yuka last night, she's says, our daughter-in-law, lives in Redmond, she says Mrs. Wilson, a teacher there, was, she was thankful that you went up to, to Whidbey, to her brother's class. So it means a lot, there's no doubt.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.