<Begin Segment 24>

TI: It sounds like you and your mother had a pretty close relationship.

BK: Oh, yeah.

TI: That you were able to...

BK: I talked to her a lot.

TI: Yeah, which is, in some cases, unusual. You don't get as much of that communication sometimes between Niseis and Issei.

BK: Well, even after I took Sam home to meet my family, and I told my mom he was from Wakayama, and he's not Buddhist, he's Christian. And then the following month when we went to visit her, she had a picture of Jesus Christ. [Laughs]

TI: And what did that say to you that your mother would do that?

BK: That everybody's the same. So even when I, you know, talked about church and stuff, my mother said, "As long as you raise your kids in some kind of church," she didn't care. She didn't say I have to be a Buddhist or marry a Buddhist.

TI: Now, how would you describe her personality? What was she like in terms of her personality?

BK: I think she was very outgoing and very understanding. Not just for the Japanese, but for everybody. I mean, even when I asked her, I said, "How come we're in Japantown and then the Chinese are in Chinatown and then the whites are beyond the parks and the post office and stuff?" And she said, "Well, that's how this town is, so you just make the best of it." And she said, "You have everything you need in Japantown, so you don't have to go. And if you want to go, go pick up the mail. [Laughs]

TI: Okay, so Betty, so I want to ask, so it sounds like your mother said all these things in terms of, "Sometimes this is just the way it is." But then earlier you talked about how when the principal had that assembly and you told him to go to hell, when that other girl made a comment about "come see the Jap girl" and you got mad. So you weren't the type to just say, "Well, that's the way it is," and to be quiet about it. You actually were very outspoken.

BK: I don't know when I became... I think it kind of started in Rohwer. When we were leaving, my girlfriend's mother had appendicitis. And I guess they didn't get to her, to the hospital in time, so she lost a lot of weight. And then my friend was the only child, and then that's when I went to the block manager and I said, "Who's gonna take care of her?" I mean, I wasn't thinking about her coming with us, 'cause her mother was still in the hospital. But I said, "Who's gonna take care of her?" She didn't have a dad.

TI: And so you felt like, it seems like you decided that you had to speak out, especially for those who didn't speak out for themselves, you needed to somehow voice these things.

BK: Yeah. That's why my kids always say, "You worry and want to take care of everybody." I know I worry about other people.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.