Densho Digital Archive
Japanese American National Museum Collection
Title: Daniel Inouye Interview
Narrator: Daniel Inouye
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Denver, Colorado
Date: July 5, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-idaniel-02-0003

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TI: Thinking about, now, to today, when you think back in terms of redress, this is the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the redress, what impact, or what has that, what has redress achieved, do you think, for our country and for the Japanese American community?

DI: Well, it made our concept of democracy get closer to perfection. I've always maintained that democracy is imperfect. But we're always in an evolution trying to perfect ourselves. Take, for example -- I may say this tonight, I don't know -- when I studied the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson, Adams, Washington, Franklin, who proposed changes and such, it dawned upon me that all of those who were saying that all men are created equal all had slaves. Every one of 'em. Yes, they treated their slaves like humans, but nevertheless, they were slaves. And all had wives, and none of 'em voted. See, it was far from perfection. So it's evolving. Now, this, if you look into history, this is the first time I believe that the country, our nation, on an important issue, apologized. Oh, they've done it for someone getting killed on the street or something like that, but for something this historic, to apologize for what they have done. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't know how you measure in terms of dollars what would be appropriate. For me, the apology was the important thing, acknowledgement by the government. And when that happened, I became a really proud member. I was always proud of my country, but this one really gave it the zap.

TI: And what do you think it achieved for the Japanese American community?

DI: Well, for one thing, it uplifted them. They made, they said to themselves, "This is a good country. What other country would have done this?" And I think the results can be seen today. More on a per capita basis among the ethnic groups, Japanese in colleges. More with graduate degrees. The lowest crime rate. And all these are profound statistics. And I think what refreshed it was to give the Japanese Americans and the Nikkei a little bit of understanding of what our democracy was all about. That it may be slow at time, and painful, but it comes through.

TI: Good. So one last question, and that's thinking back to the day that President Reagan signed the bill, 1988, August, you were there, and behind him while he signed it. What was going through your mind when that was happening?

DI: Well, I said, "I'm a witness to history being made." The only thing is you don't see me in any official picture. I was way out on the end, you know. I had to shove Spark in the front and say, "Get in there." So I wanted Spark to get his credit, too.

TI: And what did this mean to Spark? Since he's not here to share, what do you think this all meant to Spark?

DI: I think he looked upon this as his greatest involvement in something important. And after this, he began thinking about the Institute of Peace. That if we are big enough to do this, then we should be big enough to train people to conduct peace. See, we have training institutions to teach men and women how to kill, how to go to war. This is the first one to teach and train men and women on how to conduct peace.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.