Densho Digital Archive - Mas Hashimoto Interview (denshovh-hmas-01-0033)

<Begin Segment 33>

TI: So, Mas, I have to ask you, so you're spending a lot of time on this, probably thousands of hours of volunteer work to do this, about something that happened over sixty-five years ago. So why do you do it? Why is this so important to you?

MH: It's important because it... no one should go to prison because of the way they look. No one should go to prison because of the way they're dressed. We went to prison, we were never given a trial, we never had an attorney, we never had charges pressed against us. That's completely contrary to the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights, habeas corpus. Those things mean something. They're, they separate us, our Constitution separates us from all other countries. It's not the flag, other countries have flag, other countries have red, white and blue, it's the Constitution. And when our government doesn't abide by the Constitution, then we have to speak out. Risk going to jail, whatever, but we have to speak out. It cannot, it's happening right now at Guantanamo. But I don't see the anger. "It's not happening to me so it's okay." No, that happened in Nazi Germany. It was happening to other groups, and then finally Hitler even took this group. We can't allow that to happen, and if we forget that part of our history, then we're lost.

TI: And so do you think, in particular, Japanese Americans have a responsibility --

MH: Responsibility, absolutely.

TI: -- to, to talk out or to talk about these things?

MH: Yeah, absolutely. And speak loudly, and be in the forefront of the rights, for civil rights. Among the most important people in our civil rights movement were the guys of the 442nd, the 100th/442nd. What if -- let me ask you this -- what if not one Japanese American soldier fought in World War II? Not one, and the war was won? Where would Japanese Americans be then?

TI: It's hard to say, yeah.

MH: But we spearheaded, our guys spearheaded the civil rights movement. They didn't know it at the time, they were thinking along those lines, but they spearheaded the civil rights movements of the 1960s. That this minority group can be as patriotic and loyal as any. You can't question Chinese and Vietnamese and Germans and Italians, what binds us together is the Constitution of the United States, the words we live by. And if we, that's why... you know, like reparations, I wasn't, I was for the apology twenty years ago, but I wasn't for the reparation because I'm a Nisei. That's... asking for money? That sounds too materialistic, demeaning if you put money on. But then I heard the testimonies and read the testimonies, and there's somebody living in L.A. with an elderly gentleman with, Issei living on a few dollars a week for food, and I'm going, "No, it's not about me, it's about all of us." And then Norm Mineta said something that was, just the other day in Salt Lake City, he said, "The reparations was really important." I'd never heard him speak about the reparations before. He said, "When the administration wanted to imprison Muslim and Arab Americans," whatever, was talking about internment. And he just pointed out, he says, "Just think what it's gonna cost you in reparations. We had a few thousand, it cost two billion or something like that, just think what it's gonna cost you if you imprison all of these, and then you have to pay for reparations." The discussion ended. The reparations was important as a teaching device. So I'm very grateful to all of those people who had something to do with redress and reparations.

TI: Good.