<Begin Segment 19>

TI: When you started hearing, sort of, the news that people on the coast like in Los Angeles, they're starting to move, being taken away from, evacuated from their homes, what did you think then? Did you think that that was gonna happen in Fresno, too?

RN: No, I guess not. Fresno is a small town, you know, not big city like L.A. So they didn't discriminate that much.

TI: But then eventually the word got out, or the officials said, so Japanese and Japanese Americans in Fresno are going to have to leave also. Do you remember when that happened?

RN: Uh-uh.

TI: Did they put up notices, pretty soon, that pretty soon would have to, people leave.

RN: Oh, yeah.

TI: And what happened then? What did your family do then?

RN: I think the JACL, I think they took a big part in it. And they defended, you know, even if you weren't a JACL member, they defended that Japanese Americans are, they're nothing that could hurt, or bad. And when the JACL defends you, well, they listen.

TI: So in Fresno, did the JACL come out and... what's the right word? Kind of stand up for the rights of Japanese Americans?

RN: Yeah, uh-huh.

TI: And so do you remember some of the people in the JACL in Fresno who did this?

RN: A lot of people didn't like the JACL. Lot of people thought that they were, they were too much for the American law and American... but they didn't do anything about it. And JACL wasn't light then.

TI: And so how did you feel about that? Because on one side, people felt that the JACL was helping Japanese Americans, and then on the other side, some people said, "No, they're cooperating too much with the government." So where did you fit?

RN: I didn't feel anything for JACL or... I didn't.

TI: Okay, good.

KN: So some of the leaders, Mom, remember, like Fred Hirasuna was JACL leader in Fresno, right? Who else? Mike Iwasumo?

RN: Mike, maybe he was.

KN: Fred Hirasuna, I know he was an old-time JACL.

TI: So did you know Fred Hirasuna?

RN: No, I didn't know him too well.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.