Densho Digital Archive - Sachiye Okamoto - Miho Shiroishi Interview (denshovh-osachiye

<Begin Segment 8>

KL: Back to Compton before Manzanar, you were scared at school. Do you remember the walk to school or anything else about that first day, were you scared before you...

MS: In Compton?

KL: Yeah. When you started at that school, what were your feelings the morning of your first day or when you were waiting to go?

SO: Were you scared when you went to school that first day?

MS: I don't think so. I think it was just, you know, part of going to school. You have to go to school, so we just went. There was nothing to think about. It was just something that was required of you, so you just did it.

KL: Do you remember the walk at all before you went?

SO: No. I remember walking, though. I just think that we were teased so much, so where would I have gotten that?

KL: In the school?

SO: Well, I don't know. That's why I was so scared, I'm sure. Did I get teased in Terminal Island? There was so much hatred. But all I can remember is, "You dirty Jap." And I'm thinking to myself, "I'm not dirty," because we bathed every day. I didn't quite understand it. But I don't know where I was teased so much that I would be afraid. Was it going to school? I don't know.

KL: Did it come from adults or from children?

SO: Both. Children were mean, too. Yeah, the kids were... yes, yes.

KL: What was the teacher's response to the teasing?

SO: I don't think it happened right in the classroom. I think it was going to and from school. I don't recall... I don't know.

KL: Do you remember teasing?

MS: I don't remember. I don't remember that. But a lot, a lot after Manzanar, went through a lot of hate.

KL: You said you feel for your mother in that situation. What do you remember about your mother's, your mother's behavior when you were in Compton? How did she cope?

MS: Well, as usual, just working hard to keep the kids safe and all that kind of thing. It was more what she was doing, we just never sat down and talked about the situation we were in. I mean not ever. Not even after we came out of camp. They just went on to do what they were doing before we were interrupted. And so for myself, I just put like two and two together as I got older, because we didn't talk to friends about anything, our parents, they never said anything. It just...

KL: Did she seem the same to you in Compton as she seemed in Terminal Island, or were there differences?

MS: I think so. She was the same. Do you think that?

SO: She didn't show it. Because with our father being gone, too, she had to take care of all of us. So she didn't show the fear, she just tried to keep us calm. But I do remember at Compton, we did play outdoors a lot, because there was no room to play inside the building, because we had all these blankets all over the place. And so we stayed outdoors a lot until it was time to go to bed, I guess. I'm not sure.