<Begin Segment 16>

FA: Is there anything more you want to say, Sam?

SH: No, there isn't. You know, this thing become hearsay and all that stuff. There isn't. There isn't. One, one thing I can say is I'm thankful all those people helped us out. It's those people that made it possible for the Fair Play Committee to, did what they did. If it wasn't for the people, couldn't have made it. It was the boys and girls and everybody helped. I know who they are. They said, "Here's the money for, it's a little money, but give it to the committee." There was a lot of 'em. Girls, too. And Issei, too, they helped quite a lot, too. And then when I was put into the transfer to the camp or something, a lotta people say, "Sam, here's fifty bucks. Spend it on yourself." You know, that's the kind of people they were. So I'll, I mean, I appreciate all those people. I mean those people. They're the ones who made it possible. If it wasn't for them, you know, we wouldn't be here. I mean, we wouldn't be where we are now, starting from the go to Supreme Court of the United States.

FA: Do you have a sense of how historic what you did, the Fair Play Committee did, is?

SH: Well, I never thought about it.

FA: Has it ever been a frustration to you over the years? That the Fair Play Committee isn't mentioned in the books by Bill Hosokawa?

SH: No, no, no. I never cared about Bill Hosokawa anyway. He's, a bunch of crap that he has written in there. But he's writing his views. That's his, that's, that's a very strong, very moral issue. Hosokawa is a very strong moral issue. I'm not interested in that, that's your personal view.

FA: Setting him aside, I mean, just in terms of Japanese America in general, had forgotten about the Fair Play Committee for over fifty years. Does that frustrate you?

SH: No. But to my opinion, what I... they haven't forgotten. They remind me. They bring the subject up. And many may be still bitter as they were at the time, of that time, to date. And I, those people, I don't want to interfere with their thinking because that's what they believe. What are you going to do?

FA: A lot of veterans today still say that you guys are nothing but draft evaders.

SH: That's right. That's what they say.

FA: Burn you up?

SH: Nope. I know it, and I said I believed it. I know I'm right. Our Constitution is the highest law of the land. That's our privilege. Everybody have it. But I mean, I compromise, but I mean, there's no, I don't, I am a hard-liner. I admit that. Stay with it, huh? I still, I still am with that, I'm still with that in my everyday life. That's why I make a lot of enemies with doctors.

[Interruption]

Male voice: I'm very interested because you had a conviction all the way through. You said, "This is what I believe and this is what I'm going to do."

SH: That's right.

Male voice: Is that peculiar among Japanese men?

SH: They compromise a lot. Let's, let's get public relations. Let's have this public, public relations. Sure, you could have good public relations by being honest. And you tell me different where I'm wrong in my, in my thinking, I'll listen to you. See? I said to be honest is the best public relation you can have. That's why I have more of those people, executive people, they come to speak to me all the time, you know. They say, "Mr. Horino, how are you?" Lotta people, "Gee, how do you know him?" Well, I just met him several time and then they... even I was down with my boy friend all this, some time ago, this Toyota company, down, main office down at the, some downtown here. I was with my friend. The executive branch of the Toyota. He's a white man. He came out and talked to me. And the salesman says, "How did you know him?" I hear that word all the time, "How do you know him?" He came talk to me, everyday life, he says, "Did you have these people?" They don't seem to, to get hold of Toyota cars. These Japan-made cars, they still buy American-made cars, these Japanese people. He says, "I can't understand this. It's a good car." And that's the way they are.

Male voice: When you were in Leavenworth...

SH: Yeah?

FA: Did any of the prisoners get after the Japanese prisoners? Did they hassle them?

SH: Nope. Never did. Far as I'm concerned, I never have. We were all, we had our chores to do, we had work to do, and we did it. We minded our own business.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 1993, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.