<Begin Segment 11>

AR: What kind of emotions do you have returning to this place after all these years?

RE: Well, in a way, we as kids enjoyed life in a way, so it's somewhat nostalgic. I don't think that any of us who were younger experienced any hardship, so to speak. We thought we were living quite a normal life. We had no idea what discrimination was so... yeah.

AR: Does it matter to you that there's virtually nothing left to mark the existence of that community?

RE: Yeah, it's so sad because, you know, many of us would like to go back to our roots and say, "This is where my home was," and everything. But it's very difficult to identify the structures that used to be there as identifiable.

AR: This building that we kind of see behind you, I refer to as kind of the tin Quonset hut, do you think, you have some memories of African American families living in this region of...

RE: Well, not exactly there. I would imagine the farmer who used to have horses, graze horses here, and there were cattles as well but there were horses as well. And we used to go lure the horses with treats and things but they apparently were... existed in this particular area. Whether they were confined in there, I really don't know. Across the way were African American families, a few who raised pigs, hogs, and that was probably it. And if we go down around this road nearby was the stockyard that...

AR: Did the African American kids go to school in town?

RE: No, I don't recall them. I think there was a one-room schoolhouse where Highway 70 runs over there. There was a one-room schoolhouse and I don't... we were privileged to go to the public school as a family, but those who didn't probably did encounter those other minorities there.

AR: Well, being here on a nice cloudy day in the coolness of the morning, does it bring back memories of what you would do as kids for fun?

RE: Oh, back those days summers were extremely hot, extremely hot, and so we would always be looking for a tall tree, cottonwood trees, to lay down under and take a siesta every day. Every day seemed to be cloudless days, hot and... very hot.

AR: You've spoken in previous interviews and other people have written about how the Anglo people from town would come by and buy vegetables from the Japanese and imported trinkets from Mr. Kimura?

RE: Yeah, basically the vegetables were grown by my mother and father in the back of the house. And so, yes, there'd be a smattering of people, maybe a dozen or so would come and buy vegetables on a Saturday morning. And that's when my mother, when us kids would help wash the vegetables and prepare them on, for the stand, and that's what they did.

AR: What were some of the kinds of vegetables you sold, do you remember?

RE: Well, you know, seasonally there would be cabbages, celery, lettuce, carrots, and you know, we even grew peanuts, but of course that was harvested in the fall. But the basic, basic vegetables that people wanted, we grew them. It was all irrigation farming, gardening so to speak. Mr. Kimura had an in with some import... area, so we would always anxiously await seeing these wooden crates come in from Japan and they would be... for the Japanese families they would, he would import soy sauce and all the Japanese condiments and things of that sort. For the American people, he had all these trinkets, little Japanese novelty things and necklaces and things, and people would come in Saturday morning, buy vegetables from my mother and father, go in to see Mr. Kimura's little gift shop adjacent to his quarters, their quarters, yes.

AR: So would you like to see some kind of a historical marker around here or somewhere else in Clovis that recognizes the history of the Japanese in Clovis?

RE: I think it would be nice because we were part of Clovis' history. I think our fathers, the Japanese railway workers, contributed immensely to the economy of this town. And of course we were part of Clovis.

AR: You know, you're a thoughtful, reflective man, do you think there's any larger lessons to be learned about what happened to the Japanese from Clovis during the war? Any thoughts on that? I mean, take your time and think about it.

RE: I think Clovis people were embarrassed at what happened without protecting us. We were not the enemy, but I think by and large we learned a lesson that hate and discrimination has no place in America today. But those are the difficult times we all faced but hopefully that we will never repeat history. History's always repeated by man, you know, as you know, and it's unfortunate.

AR: Okay. Do you want to add anything else at this, at this part of our interview, thinking about Clovis?

RE: No, but I certainly appreciate the opportunity to come back and revisit, certainly my brother and sister's gravesite, the area which I would have called home, and of course I look back, not in anger, but nostalgia and gratified that we had an opportunity to be part of this life here.

AR: Well, we're sure happy on behalf of the project to have you come back and take this time to interview with us.

RE: Thank you.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2008 New Mexico JACL and Densho. All Rights Reserved.