Densho Digital Archive - Bill Hirabayashi Interview (denshovh-hbill

<Begin Segment 25>

MA: And I wanted to ask you also about the redress movement and the reparations check and the government apology in the 1980s, and how you feel about that?

BH: Well, when they were talking about the government, to try to get some attention from them, and for an apology, they did that first year or two. Being in business, I just, automatically, I said to the people that, just like yourself, asking me, I said, "It'll never go through unless you put a dollar amount on it and hit the person in the, or the government in the pocketbook." Because otherwise, it'll just get sloughed off, and nobody's going to know what happened. But I said, "Anytime there's money, whether it's a dollar or a million dollars, if somebody thinks somebody's getting something for nothing, there's going to be a lot of action and a lot of publicity." And that's exactly what happened.

MA: Oh, that's interesting. So you saw the money as a good publicity...

BH: I remember when somebody came asking me, and they were talking about it, and they said, "Maybe you can give us some input because Gordon being a distant cousin or whatever," I don't know, whatever, from way back, but then we used to be neighbors, you know. And we grew up together and everything. And so I said, "Well, I know all the Sanseis are good about being lawyers and doing all that," but I said, "It's not going to work unless you put a dollar amount on it." And they said, "Oh, you're in business, and you always talk about money." But that wasn't really the case that I had in mind. Because through business, yes, I've had people with different things. And if you say, "Well, I'm sorry, that's all there is to it." But then if you put a dollar amount on it, it's surprising how far that goes. And I would, I used to always say to people, "Hey, if this and that doesn't work, it's going to cost you." And then they paid attention. But if it was nothing, no, nothing attached to it, there was nothing. And I'm not taking credit for it, it's just that that was my feeling. I'm sure a lot of other people felt the same way. This is why they brought that, they put a price tag on it, you see what I mean?

MA: Uh-huh, yeah. Have you gone back to Thomas at all, or the White River Valley?

BH: Yeah, I've gone back quite a few times, yeah. Because I have friends there, and I always go see my neighbor, Joe and Martin Schuller. Martin Schuller just passed away, but I still see Joe and keep in touch with him. And my brothers go over there, too, and keep in touch with them, plus one of the girls, they had one sister, Marie. And like Sam goes, stops in to see her every time they go out to the coast.

MA: And how close are you still with the Hirabayashi family and the Katsunos? Do you ever...

BH: How what?

MA: How, do you keep in touch with the Katsunos and the Hirabayashis?

BH: We did for a while, but then naturally, Gordon's parents went to Seattle, my parents came to Minneapolis, and so they naturally got together when somebody passed away at a funeral or something like that. But they had their things, and my parents had their things, 'cause they had their independent church over here with a group of Japanese and all that. And so Christmas cards and stuff, but it just gradually fizzled out. When I go out there, then I look up Gordon's sister, Esther, and things like that. But other than that, it's just like my regular friends, I keep in touch. There are some that are real good friends that I talk to over the telephone a lot, maybe couple times a month or more, I have three or four friends that I do that with. But I do that with my friends in California and out in Idaho, too, so it's the same thing. But as far as the, my parents' time, I think it just kind of died out because they got older, they couldn't do a lot of things. And they've been gone for many years, 'cause my mother passed away in '69. My dad passed away in 1980, so that's quite a while ago.