<Begin Segment 27>

MN: Okay, Mas, I've asked my questions. Anything else you want to add? Anything about redress or any other issue we haven't covered?

MO: No, redress was a good thing. The thing I like about redress is the Norman Mineta story. Now, you know that one, right? Where Norm was a prisoner at Heart Mountain and was a Boy Scout. Now, Norm and I are the same age, so I know Norm. Anyway, I'd met him when he was an insurance agent, all right? So he is a Boy Scout, and they have some kind of activity with a white Boy Scout troop in Cody. And then he gets elected eventually, after being mayor of San Jose, gets elected to Congress. And in order to become a representative, you have to go to school, you have to take classes. And he arrives there, and lo and behold, Wayne Simpson's there. Alan. Wayne is a friend of mine. Alan Simpson's there, and he's long-lost friends. And when it comes time for H.R. 442, who leads it in the Senate? Alan Simpson. And what's so remarkable about the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 is that for the first time in the history of the U.S. Congress, Strom Thurmond voted for a law that had civil liberties in it. That's remarkable.

MN: He was against all the African American --

MO: Oh, yeah. He voted for that. And so that's a remarkable achievement. And to this day, if Norm is to be remembered for anything, that's what he's to be remembered for. And when I last saw him I said, "You made me really proud. After 9/11, you got on national television and you said, 'These are our American neighbors, not terrorists. They may be Arab Americans, but they're not terrorists.'" Because no one spoke out for us. That's actually maybe one of the proudest days of my life. Because he's a person I know.

MN: But did you ever think redress was even possible when they started talking about it in the '70s and '80s?

MO: They asked me to testify, and I told them I wouldn't because it was one of these shikata ga nai things. [Laughs] I really thought that nothing would come of it; I really did. What pleased me was when the thing started going through, is that one of my former students was an attorney on it, Karen Watai. And Dale Minami, both from Gardena High. And I knew Dale's father, and I knew Neil, his older brother, that they served as pro bono attorneys on that. And five years ago, Karen was reading... what's that book about that teacher in Long Beach? Writing teacher where she published all the journals of her kids in class? They made a movie with Hilary Swank in it, she got the academy award for that, or maybe not made it. I'll think of it. Anyway, I went to speak to that group. John... I can't remember the Chinese guy's name, but he was a software guy in Orange County that decided that he would contribute money to the schools, but only if he could control the money. So he gave the money to this teacher and decided that he would have an all-day symposium, they would go to the Museum of Tolerance, he would take them to dinner at the Marriott in Century City. It'll come to me. Anyway, Hilary Swank was the teacher in there.

Anyway, I get interviewed for that, and the kids write it. And I'm with all the junior high school kids because they have read Farewell to Manzanar. So all the time I'm with them, and I'm at dinner with them, and this one kid writes, "This was one of the best days of my life. I met Mas Okui." And so he proceeds to write about it. Well, Karen's an attorney in New York, and she's reading this, and she sees my name. She says, "Oh, there can't be two people." So she calls her friends, because she was one of my AP History students. And they decide that they're gonna honor six teachers from Gardena and six teachers from Perry at the Cherry Stone. And so they invite me and I figured, oh, it's just a thing. Anyway, each teacher gets introduced by someone he had as a student. I had Lance Izumi, I don't know if you know Lance, he's the speech writer for George Peukwajian. And when he was in my history class, he was the only Republican I had in there, so he was my whipping boy. [Laughs] And he has his lawyer tie on, shirt on, suspenders, and he has this all rehearsed. He says, "I remember Mr. Okui because there wasn't a day that went by that he wouldn't persecute me because I was a Republican," which wasn't true. [Laughs] And then he proceeds to take off his shirt, his tie, suspenders and shirt, and he had someone inscribe whip marks on his back. That was funny. That was rewarding because there were so many teachers from Gardena High that I had a lot of respect for, and I knew a lot of the teachers at Perry, and these were people I had respect for. It was just nice that you had these ten kids, or twelve kids, that decided to honor specific teachers. It was a nice afternoon. And the mayor of Gardena was there, Nakano, what's his first name?

MN: Ken Nakaoka? Don Deere?

MO: No, no, after Don Deere, Japanese guy. Nakano, wasn't it? Lance Nakano?

MN: I don't remember now.

MO: Yeah. Well, anyway, he's mayor of Gardena. And it was a nice day. Nice day.

MN: I've heard very good things about you from other people who have been your students.

MO: Well, I used to browbeat them. I took no prisoners, it was the Rule of Three. Anytime you messed up the third time, parents got a call. The call always started, "You don't send your kid to school to not do what's expected, and I need your help." That's how I talked to them, "I need your help."

MN: And you always got the most canned foods.

MO: Oh, yeah, because I'd tell them about my birthday, I mean, our Christmas.

MN: At Manzanar?

MO: Yeah. Anytime we had food drives, especially at Canoga Park when I was there, because you had a lot of Hispanic kids there, and a lot of them were poor. But yeah, just got all these canned goods. I never tell anyone how I conned these kids into giving canned goods. But that's all part of it. Teaching is a con job. If all teachers understood that you've got to con these kids into learning... as long as you can con 'em, it works.

MN: Okay, Mas, thank you very much.

MO: I'm finished.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.