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EK: So speaking of people, are there any others whose contribution you'd like to mention or topics we haven't touched upon already?

BK: Yeah, I think, clearly, the government played, federal government played a key role. I mean, credit is due to, I think, the three Administrators, Bob Bratt, Paul Suddes and DeDe Greene. They played a very, very important role. Early on, Assistant Attorney General Dunne, I forgot his first name, he was there. Jim Turner worked with Bob in the early years, and when there was a change in the administration, Deval Patrick was the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights which oversaw the ORA program, who also played a key role in ultimately addressing the evacuation cases. But I think, on the community side, credit is really due to a lot of the JACL volunteers. There were literally ultimately a couple thousand or several thousand cases that a lot of the pro bono attorneys assisted with. And folks like Mary Wong and Owen Matsunaga and Lauren Hirano who handled the initial cases, Clayton Ikei, who reviewed some of the initial legislation to determine, and whose opinion was that evacuees were eligible, they handled these cases all on a pro bono basis. And I think Ashford and Wriston, where Owen and Mary folks worked with, I think they devoted over two thousand pro bono hours just to handle the initial cases. And then there was a second team of pro bono lawyers that came under the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), folks like Harry Yee, Roy Catalani, Karl Sakamoto, Susan Kitsu, who were part of the NAPABA team that handled other evacuation cases as well. And so these lawyers really stepped to the plate and handled very tedious and complex evacuation cases that ultimately were successful.

But also, too, to the JACL volunteers. Because it was JACL board, in addition to the lawyers, there were public relations specialists, folks like Allison Tasaka, Sharon Tomomitsu, Steve Okino, who helped publicize the cases because if we didn't get this out to the newsmedia, then probably word about these unique cases would never come to bear. So a public relations and community outreach program was essential. So working together with the lawyers and volunteers, those two were the unsung heroes. And really, lastly, to the evacuees. The evacuees and their families because for them to come out after all these years and to recount all the stories and really to their children, assisting the Issei filling out the forms and coming to all the meetings, and for them to be able to continue to drive these cases fifty years later, and have the patience and the perseverance and the tenacity really is a credit to them as well. So collectively, as a community, as advocates, and as government agencies, I think that's what made the Hawaii cases successful.

EK: Great. Are there any other final thoughts or stories you'd like to share at this time?

BK: I think just kind of in reflection, this was literally thirty years ago, and it was really a community effort. Really, again, working with the government, working with community leaders, working with evacuees themselves. And it is a great story injustice to know that it can be done. But you have to work hard, you have to be determined and you have to persevere. But credit is due to really all these various stakeholders which came to the table to address this.

EK: Thank you, Bill.

BK: Thank you.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2019 Emi Kuboyama. All Rights Reserved.