<Begin Segment 6>

FC: Should they be honored, are they heroes? Or are they, should they just be apologized to and forgotten? Where, in your opinion, do they stand in regard to Japanese American history?

PT: My feeling about the Fair Play Committee and the resisters of conscience is that they represent the best of us, and the best of what we are called to be in this life, and I have nothing but the highest respect for them. I'm only distressed that so many of them have passed away and will not live to see the society that honors them, as James Omura knew would happen to him.

FA: Is it difficult to talk about Mike Masaoka even now? I mean, you say, "Where's the sword that I fall on?" Is it difficult?

PT: I don't have any problem talking about him.

FC: Did you ever meet him personally?

PT: No.

FC: Did he send you Christmas cards?

PT: Postcards? [Laughs]

FA: But, you know, it is, it is difficult in the community to talk about Mike and the betrayal.

PT: Oh, yeah. They can't deal with that.

FA: Why not?

PT: You want me to explain? I believe that the reason that the Japanese American community cannot deal with what Mike Masaoka means in terms of our history has a lot to do with our culture. We are a culture that do not, that does not tend to bring its problems out in the open, that does not like to see persons who are highly honored by our government to be brought down. We are not that kind of people, and it's in our culture, and that's the reason I believe that we're not willing today even, even within the Japanese American Citizens League, to face this problem of why did we do this during the war, and how does that measure up contrasted to what the JACL as a civil rights organization must do and stands for.

FA: And by criticizing Mike Masaoka, are we bringing him down?

PT: No, I don't think criticism of Mike Masaoka or that position during World War II negates the life of anyone. It's, because in my view it's understandable why we were that way. We were people of color, we had no power, and we were told by our immigrant parents that they wanted us to be established in part of the larger community, so that through us they might vicariously live out the life that was denied to them, and I think that's a reality. And so I don't have any problem with people who do not wish to deal with this problem, because I understand them. That's where I came from.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 1995, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.