<Begin Segment 9>

Q: What was your opinion of the court proceedings of your hearing?

GH: Very cut-and-dried. Not surprising because I didn't expect constitutional issues to come up until the Supreme Court. So our lawyers were putting in the foundations for the appeal. The district court was simply establishing the facts: "here is the order to move," which included all persons of Japanese ancestry. So they determined that I was of Japanese ancestry and that I had not moved, and therefore the judge had instructed the jury, "That's all you're supposed to do." If he's of Japanese ancestry and he hadn't moved, then you've got to come back with a guilty verdict. Forget all that argument about the Constitution that the defense was making." So they, according to the judge's instruction, they came back in ten minutes or so with a guilty verdict. So we expected that.

Q: Did you speak to the, speak in court of law?

GH: Yes. Yes, I was up on the stands. And basically, I was asked questions by my lawyer as to why I did it, and what were my reasons. And my response was that I was, I was trying to live like an American, and that I believed what the Constitution said, that being of Japanese ancestry should not constitute grounds for removal. If they suspected me of a threat to national defense, they should accuse me of that so I could defend myself on that ground, not on ancestry.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1983, 2010 Densho and Steven Okazaki. All Rights Reserved.