<Begin Segment 10>

FA: How did you feel seeing the editorial, your press releases in the Rocky Shimpo by James Omura? How did that make you feel?

FE: Oh, that really helped us morally because we felt that James Omura was in our corner. And we also felt that since this paper was being distributed in other camps, that it might stir up the other camps. In fact, I wrote a letter to a friend of mine in Manzanar telling him what we were doing and asking him if they would start something like that -- not Manzanar, I correct that, it's Poston, my friend was in Poston. I don't know whether my letter ever got to him because I never got an answer from him. They might have censored it and said, "Well, this is just more agitation so we better not let him have it."

FA: Did you read the editorial "Let Us Not be Rash," when it was published?

FE: Which was that? James Omura's editorial?

FA: Rocky Shimpo.

FE: Rocky Shimpo?

FA: Where he says, "Unorganized draft resistance would be foolish. Any resistance must be organized."

FE: Oh yeah, I'm sure I read all of his editorials 'cause we were taking the Rocky Shimpo at that time. But we were already organized at that time. We had already organized in late 1943.

FA: James Omura says he was trying to send you a subtle message to organize. He could not tell you to organize but he was telling you to organize.

FE: Actually, I think he was trying to send this message to the other camps. 'Cause as far as Heart Mountain was concerned, we were already organized at that point.

FC: Okamoto would go off on his own and send stuff out and do things in the name of the Fair Play Committee. Were you aware of that?

FE: Not really. Later we found out when he would tell us what he did.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 1998, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.