<Begin Segment 8>

FA: Finally, this is a program about the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee. What is your overall assessment, the actions, the achievements of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee?

RD: The Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee, it seems to me, took a very, very high moral ground, and paid the consequences of it. At the time, they didn't achieve very much if they wanted to change, to change government policy. On the other hand, they left an important historical record and they raised important moral and legal issues, and one hopes that American society now treats dissent somewhat better than it did in the Second World War. And if it does, it has in part this whole experience of the Japanese American people, every aspect of it, to thank for that. The Fair Play Committee would have had more influence had more people known about it. And this is one of the things you have to talk about, about... it's very important who writes history. History is usually written by the winners. And in the short term, the JACL, people, or people who believe in that point of view, the people who wanted to "improve" the image of the Japanese American people, in the short run, they controlled the history. That's obviously no longer the case. Some people are still trying to control the history. People want to control history very, very much. But memory holes don't work. Big Brother is not yet in control, and one hopes never will be.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1998, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.