<Begin Segment 18>
TI: So during that time after Pearl Harbor and before you left, you talked about boarding up the windows to the store.
BK: Yeah.
TI: Now, was there any attempt to, at that time, sell some of your things like the car?
BK: No. I mean, there was a rumor going around that, you know, they were gonna bomb all the Japanese stores, and we were a store. And then if we're, we had a curfew of eight o'clock, and if we're found outside, they said it was more to protect us, just like sending us to camp was for protection.
TI: And when they said that, who said that it was for your protection? Do you recall, was that a rumor or did you actually hear someone who actually said that?
BK: I think I just heard it in this conversation.
TI: How about the Chinese or the whites? Did they start treating Japanese any differently after December 7th?
BK: Yeah, I mean, they called us "Japs." And said, you know, so it's a shortcut to "Japanese, what's the big deal?"
TI: So you tried to not let that bother you.
BK: No, uh-uh.
TI: Now, did anyone say that directly to you? They used that term "Japs" directly to you?
BK: Yeah, they... you know, I think a few of my friends got rocks thrown at them, but I wasn't one of 'em.
TI: And who was doing that? Who was throwing the rocks and saying things like "Japs"?
BK: The kids.
TI: Was it both the Chinese and the whites, or just the whites?
BK: We never saw the whites, to tell you the truth. Because they were...
TI: So would this be, then, Chinese that would throw the rocks?
BK: Yeah.
TI: And how did that make you feel? Because before December 7th, it changed so much. I mean, did you think about that at all?
BK: Yeah, well, I just used to, you know, "They're ignorant and they don't know anything," and so I said, "Just ignore it." And if it's something that you need to go home and tell your parents, that they're throwing rocks at us. But I don't think they would have done anything either.
<End Segment 18> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.