<Begin Segment 12>

FA: Mits, after all this time, any regrets about what you did?

MK: No. I think if it happened today, Sansei and Yonsei, they'll do exactly what I did. I know by talking to them. And that when I talk to Robin Toma of the JABA (Japanese American Bar Association) of greater Los Angeles area, I'm more and more convinced that the young people, educated young people, see it our way.

FC: Do all the guys feel like you?

MK: Huh?

FA: Do all the resisters, former resisters, are they all as enthusiastic about the resistance and what they did, as talkative about it as you?

MK: I'm afraid not. All the resisters aren't really positively into talking about the resistance because somehow I feel that they feel sort of insecure.

FA: Are there elements in the community that are still out to suppress the resisters or suppress the news or to characterize you as bad guys?

MK: Well, today, no, because if it ever got out that we're being oppressed again, I think the Sansei and the Yonsei would speak up, and they're afraid of that. You don't see JACL bragging what they did during the wartime today, but we resisters are willing to speak up today what happened because we're proud of what we did.

FC: Do you have children?

MK: Yes.

FA: They know that you resisted?

MK: They do. My children, they're not really into civil rights and things like that because it really hasn't happened to them, see. But I feel that if they learn more and more, that they will really support it. But I know that children of even veterans support the resistance and all that. It's amazing thing.

FC: Are you proud to be a Japanese American after all this?

MK: Am I proud to be a Japanese American? I would say so. Let's put it this way: I have no choice. [Laughs]

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 1993, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.