The testimony of Denny T. Yasuhara, _________, Spokane, Washington, before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, September 9, 10, and 11, 1981.

Mr. Chairman:

My name is Denny T. Yasuhara and I am a teacher in Spokane, Washington's School District No. 81.

One purpose of my presentation today is to place in your official records the fact that economic and emotional suffering was not restricted to those evacuated from coastal areas.

Essentially, this is a story of two families, the Yasuharas and the Minatas of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. My father, Yasunobu Yasuhara and a partner bought a quarter of a city block in downtown Bonners Ferry in 1922 for $10,000. Later, Mr. George K. Minata purchased our partner's share for $5,000. The properties included: a hotel of 20 rooms, the largest restaurant in Bonners Ferry, a shoe repair shop, a wholesale milk processing plant, a barber shop, an assayer's office, and a dry cleaning and tailor shop. (Its understood that the business was in another person's name since my parents could not own property).

In 1942, 20 years later we were forced to sell our homes and business for $13,000 ...... $13,000, only $3,000 more than it cost 20 years earlier, because the community and suppliers boycotted our businesses placing us into a daily financial deficit. It should be apparent that this transaction took place at a time when business was booming and at the peak of the potential earning

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of our business, had it not been for the boycott, which reduced us almost to bankruptcy. Thus, with the boycott and attendant harassment, the business was sold to our competitor, who in turn, sold it about 6 months later for $100,000, a profit of almost 700% in 1942 dollars.

My family and Mr. Minata's family were frequently verbally abused and some of our help attacked physically. Mr. Frank Sumida, a young quiet, inoffensive Nisei was beaten severely several times at work and while returning home, until he became very frightened to go to work. Later he became mentally ill and never fully recovered, eventually dying in a mental institution, Eastern Washington State Hospital. There is, of course, no way of knowing how much this abuse contributed to his illness and subsequent death ...... obviously it could not have had a beneficial effect upon his health.

When the war started, I was in the 8th grade and the president of my class, soon thereafter I was practically ostracized and on one occasion, spat upon by an adult while walking on Main Steet. We could not go to movies for almost the duration of the war, because the theater was within 100 yards of a restricted area, the bridge over the Kootenai River. A 9:00 pm curfew was also imposed upon us so that we could not

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attend any functions after that time. In addition, we could not travel out of the county or beyond 50 miles without special permission. These restrictions were lifted after a time, but the impact of this treatment was devastating to all of us. I cannot begin to tell you about our economic and emotional suffering nor the price we would place upon our loss or our grief.

Let me close with some remarks from a column by syndicated columnist Jenkin Lloyd Jones in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on August 22, 1981, reminiscent of the "Yellow Peril" journalism of the 30's and 40's. I quote:

"Sorry about those Japanese internees. That should have never happened. But none died of malnutrition or preventable disease."

"Sorry about those surprise atomic weapons. But would the nation that surprised us at Pearl Harbor have given us advance notice if it had achieved the A-bomb first?"

"Sorry, most of all, for those conscience-stricken Americans long on compassion but short on history, who keep deploring the inhumanity of their countrymen to the delight of the copy desk at Pravda."

And remember this is 1981.

Let us hope that this Commission can rise above the politics of today and the prejudices of tomorrow.

Let us hope that the sentiments of this Commission and those of other Americans have a greater degree of objectivity and sense of justice and fair play than does Mr. Jones.

And finally, let us hope that Americans have not forgotten that the implementation of significant and meaningful justice is often painful and difficult and is a matter of substance, not of rhetoric.

Thank you.

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The issue of meaningful & just restitution for wartime internment transcends Japanese Americans & can be applied to any segment of citizens, but in my view it directly impacts our leadership in the few world, a government & a nation that is incapable of or unwilling to provide justice for its own people, because it is not in the mood for it, can hardily inspire trust & provide the kind of leadership to address those issues

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abroad ... who would believe us? It is said that charity begins at home -- it might also be said that justice does as well.

This commission must make meaningful & appropriate recommendations regarding compensation beyond an official apology which, by itself, would do little to inspire respect among other few nations of the world -- to say nothing about or enemies.