Densho Digital Archive - George Maeda Interview (denshovh-mgeorge

<Begin Segment 23>

KL: I just have kind of one wrap up question, and then anything that I haven't asked that you want to share, I'd like to hear. My question, I guess, is you've been to Manzanar National Historic Site before, and I wonder what you hope that the National Park Service will do with Manzanar, you know, in fifty or a hundred years, if someone comes there to visit, what do you want them to know about Manzanar?

GM: My god, I don't think I could ask for any more than what's being done. I said, I'm thankful and not shocked, but I'm grateful and thankful that what's going on is going on. I mean, just to keep the memory going, I think it's very important because of all the conflicts that's going now, and so forth, and people wanting to put people in prison and all that. If you are an American citizen, you can't say, "I'm a Japanese American, I'm a Mexican American," you're an American. And as such, you have to be treated like any other American citizen, and that is one of the reasons why I looked forward to speaking with you because I don't want this to die. And I told you, I think I'm the last of the generation of people that were interned, and if I don't speak, then no one else will. After I pass on, that'll be it, there won't be anybody left. I think that's important that it never happens again. And thinking back, I don't think there was any incident of any subversive acts by the people who were interned. They overreacted, and in my personal opinion, I understand why they did it, Pearl Harbor was attacked, you didn't really know what was going on, whether the West Coast was going to be next or what. So I understand why it happened, but we should definitely learn from that and make sure that it doesn't happen again.

KL: Well, we think it's important, too, to record these stories, so I really appreciate your agreeing to it and spending this afternoon.

GM: Thank you very much. I enjoyed it and I hope it's of some value.

KL: It is. It already had been to me, and when I give ranger programs, a lot of the time I tell stories that I've heard from people in these interviews, so thank you personally and thank you from the National Park Service. What have I not asked you about? Are there things you wanted to bring up today?

GM: Not really, this was about as thorough an interview as I've ever gone through.

KL: Things you told the high school students?

GM: Everything. Well, that was just a one-way conversation. I had notes, and I told what I wanted to tell, and the reception was different, they were high school kids, and half of them were not aware of anything. So whatever I told them, their mouths were open. In fact, every speaking engagement (...) was different. And then when I went to high school where this friend of mine's wife was the assistant principal, that was so different, and it was supposed to be primarily for the history class and the whole school shut down. And my brother-in-law brought his camera and all this. Oh, by the way, on this reenactment trial that I participated in, I asked my nephew, Alan, who owns and runs the Toyo Miyatake Studio, if he would bring the camera and pictures. So as you entered the courthouse, the camera and all the pictures were displayed, so that went over well, too. But that was a positive experience for me because, to tell you the truth, I'd never been into a superior court, appeals court before in my life. So other than that, I think it's pretty complete.

KL: Well, if you think of other things, you know how to find me.

GM: I will. Thank you for asking.

KL: Thank you, George.