<Begin Segment 8>

TH: It's interesting, in this process we think of it almost is very bureaucratic: are you eligible, are you not, but this is a very -- and this comes through, I think, in a lot of the interviews, is this was a very human process as well. Maybe share, what are some of the stories passed down or even those that you've experienced yourself of some of, just the kind of successes within this process.

EK: Oh gee, there were so many. And really, that was why, one of the primary reasons I wanted to do this project was to be able to capture those types of stories which, you know, historical records, historical documents wouldn't otherwise capture. There were times where I know that siblings who had been separated during the war were reunited, with our office kind of helping serve as the go-between between the individuals. There were just really unique opportunities to work with the community and to have -- and they went to great extraordinary measures to try to help us track down people or documents. And a lot of this was just the relationships that were formed between people in the office and people in the community who were working on this. And I think it was just a really, really unique partnership almost between the federal government and these individuals who had worked diligently for, I mean, really, for decades, often since the war, but primarily from the '80s on, to not only pass the legislation, but to make sure that everyone was included. I want to say out of the 120,000 people who are believed to be estimated to have been impacted by this discriminatory action on behalf of the federal government during World War II, I want to say over 83,000 people were compensated and received a letter of apology. And I think there were only 1,500 people that we could not verify one way or another. And so there are just so many stories in such a, I think, an illustration of the successful partnership.

TH: Tell us a little bit about, because you mentioned the community involvement and I know that is something that, of course, Bob Bratt, very early on, had to establish those that, at least a bridge for that kind of relationship to develop. Tell us a little bit about the efforts of the office to establish that relationship and also your own experience of those community leaders and their work on, you know, on behalf of their fellow neighbors in this.

EK: Sure. I think Bob's understanding from day one, how important it was to educate himself about historically what happened, as well as his recognition of the importance of working with the community was definitely the key to how this all ultimately played out. I think he had a very humble approach to saying that he didn't know a lot about this and that he really was eager to learn, and he was eager to talk with the community. And while, you know, we were not able to do everything I would imagine the community wanted us to be able to do in terms of finding people eligible, I think it established a degree of trust from day one and certainly a degree of humility in our approach as the, you know, representatives of the federal government, the very entity which was responsible for the incarceration. I think it was just really key. And he went and spent just a lot of time having meals with people, just having very non-bureaucratic personal conversations with people getting to know them and their families. Everybody loved Bob and that was certainly something that, when I was there, continued. The community was really responsible for the success of our outreach. They would, whenever we would go out and have meetings all across the United States, they would basically be the communication strategy. They would send out word where we were going to be and when, they would secure the location for us, they would provide refreshments. They would do everything to make it possible for us to really just come in there and do our job in a very effective way. And afterwards -- I think Bob mentioned this in his interview -- afterwards we would always, always go out for a meal, no matter what time it was, even if most of the city was shut down. But it was just such a unique relationship with folks that were very invested in the program, but also very invested in that personal connection. And so I think Bob was definitely responsible for laying the ground for us to continue to do that work.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2020 Emi Kuboyama. All Rights Reserved.