<Begin Segment 26>

KL: If people look, if somebody watches this in fifty years, a hundred years, what do you hope sticks with them or what do you hope that they will notice about your life or remember about your life?

MY: Well, I would hope that the thing like segregation and nationality and the races would never, ever bother anybody, that we could all get along together. You know, you really hope that it doesn't matter what nationality you are, and whatever happens, you accept it, you don't fight the soldiers or the police or the law. That's how I feel at least. Why fight it? At the time the government thought it was very important, so you did what they did, what they told you to.

KL: Do you think you would react the same way if it happened again?

MY: Uh-huh, because you're taught to obey your parents. I don't know about the kids nowadays, even the little kids at school now, they're really not respectful of adults, so many of them are not. But I think that our nationality, which is getting less and less because of all the cousins, they're all mixed. We are all a mixed family now, and I think they're all taught to be respectful of the government. Maybe if it didn't happen we would still be in our little ghettos, that's what I think. But now I think that it's good that maybe we went there and we were able to get out of the ghettos. Most of us lived in little Japanese ghettos, so I think maybe it was good for us in the extent that we were able to get out to the public. And back east they were very nice to us. Nobody said, "You're a Jap," unless something happened. But as a rule I think most of us showed that we were able to handle ourselves and be respectful of the elders, and respectful of the law and do a good job. Most of us were pretty intelligent, I would think, you know, as far as schools go. So I think that it helped us to learn to get around with other people, otherwise we would have just had to stay with the Japanese.

KL: Would you, that reminded me that I kind of wanted to hear... I mean, Boyle Heights is such an important part of Manzanar's past, would you just tell us what you think defined Boyle Heights in the 1940s and what is Boyle Heights like today?

MY: Well, in our days, Boyle Heights was, our Roosevelt High School was Boyle Heights. There were Russians from Alisal Village area, there were Japanese, and there were Jewish and Mexicans, and we all got along in high school. We never thought, "Oh, gee, he's a Mexican." In fact, we liked to dance with the Mexican boys because they were better dancers than the Japanese boys, to tell you the truth. We never felt, oh, he's this race or that race, that's how Roosevelt High School was. I think we were all poor, nobody was rich. There were a few richer Jewish people, but you know, everybody was poor, we all worked, and I think we all tog along. Now it's just all Mexicans, and I don't know, I think they all get along with themselves, I don't hear bad things.

KL: And then this is another question I have, and you've talked about this some, but in the 1940s you were in Los Angeles, Poston, Detroit, Chicago, and Spartanburg. Would you compare those places? How were they different, how were they similar?

MY: Well, Spartanburg, I was just there to get married. But how would I compare it? It was a different lifestyle everywhere. And in L.A. before the war, Boyle Heights, we were kids, just going to school. And in Poston it was camp life, it was fun for me. Maybe not for others, but for me it was fun, I met my husband there. Chicago and Detroit we were pretty free to do what we wanted to. It wasn't hard work, we all worked, so did everybody else. But we stayed with our own friends in Chicago and Detroit. Spartanburg I just went to get married, but they treated me very well. Then when we came back to L.A. it was very hard for us to get started. It was really, really hard financially, so it was like that for everybody who was just getting started. But now I'm very comfortable. I'm not rich, but I'm comfortable, and my children are doing well and that's all, that's very important to me. They're nice kids and I love the kids, and they love me back. And that's the whole thing in my life.

KL: Well, like I said, I could listen to you for hours and hours more, but I will end the interview unless there's anything else you wanted to include. And I'll just say thank you so much for your donation and for your time today sharing your stories.

MY: Oh, you're very welcome, you're very welcome. I just hope these things will never happen again. I hope prejudice ends anytime, it's so bad.

KL: Yeah, it limits everything. It limits the person who receives it, the person who gives it.

MY: So I think that because we were evacuated, we got out of the little ghettos. I think that. Maybe I'm wrong, but most of the Japanese American Niseis are doing okay now, don't you think so?

KL: A lot of people are. You know, I think everybody's different in that, too, many people have had very successful lives like yours with families or career or homes, and then there are other people who are damaged in some way.

MY: I suppose so.

KL: Everybody's different.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.