<Begin Segment 17>

RM: So you said that you remembered going to kindergarten in, when you were living in that trailer of the backyard of Paul's parents, or mom and, I guess, other family. Tell me, I guess, just in our life, what that was like.

PS: My sister and I both went, but the children, we went to school in Burbank, and it was pretty white, redneck. And the kids were mean to us. And my sister always stood up for me because I didn't fight. If somebody hit me, she'd hit 'em back for me. I think we were just called names all the time. Just remember it... and oh, I remember I was in that other little center, I remember feeling so deserted when my mother used to drop us off to catch the bus to get the transfer to get to work. And they would always say, "Oh, just leave her, she'll be just fine." And I, even to this day, I can remember the hot tears dripping over my nose as I lay there, just feeling deserted.

RM: Where was your mom working?

PS: I think her first job was in a shoe factory. I don't know exactly what she did there. And then eventually she got a job in the garment industry. But they did, all the Japanese networked. If they found out that there was a better job someplace else, they would let other people know, and then they would come and apply. So that's how my mom learned how to do anything, and then eventually she was on piecework. I remember her sewing when I was in, I was already in high school, she was still sewing.

RM: Do you know, it still would have been very difficult for her financially, especially before Paul was...

PS: Oh in the trailer camp? I asked her.

RM: Yeah, how did she handle that?

PS: Oh, I asked her about that, and she yelled at me one day, and I said, "How could you afford it, Mom? Was Uncle Ben sending you money?" I said, "Or Auntie Sue, anybody?" And she would always say no. And I'd say, "I don't know how you could do it, I mean, daycare? And what you used to do for work?" And then she finally said, "I had to go on welfare." I said, "Oh, now I understand it." But you know, it took her... it had to be almost sixty years before she ever told anybody she was on welfare. It had to be the worst thing that ever happened to her.

RM: Did she have other support from people in that community? I assume everyone in that trailer area was pretty, didn't have a lot of money.

PS: Desperate.

RM: Yeah. [Laughs] Did she ever talk about that community supporting each other? I mean, obviously it sounds like Paul was supporting.

PS: Yeah, she didn't mention very many people in the camp. Maybe she didn't have time to think about it, you know, she was working and then dropping us off at that daycare, and then coming home. And I don't remember very much there, and then when we went to the regular elementary school, I just remember the kids being so mean and cruel all the time.

RM: Do you remember any specific instances, or was it just constant?

PS: It happened quite a bit. I mean, they usually called us a "dirty Jap," and then they wanted to play war. And, of course, my sister and I were always the enemy, so then, of course, we had to be dead, you know, they'd hit us or knock us down until we played dead. And it went on into they moved into the inner cities schools, and then we didn't seem to have that so much anymore. But in Burbank it was, I think, all white.

RM: It's amazing because you were just in kindergarten, right?

PS: And my dad, I remember, my stepdad bringing a sheet cake on my birthday, I think just to make, be nice-nice and sharing it with the whole classroom. But it didn't mean anything to them, because once that cake was gone, we were still, you know, the enemy.

RM: Did you tell your mom about this?

PS: I don't think my sister and I ever said anything to our parents about people being mean to us. I do know that when I got a little older and I used to say things to my stepfather he said, "Well, then you need to just him 'em back." And he said, "And you need to be proud of who you are." And I kept on thinking, "I don't think so." I just, I couldn't understand how you could say that if people were always being mean to us. There had to be something wrong with us, because they never said about the camps. We didn't know about that.

RM: Did your mom experience any racism when she moved back into, or not back to Burbank, but moved into that area as an adult?

PS: You know, my mom never said anything about any prejudice. I'm sure she felt it because, to find a job, but I think she worked downtown. I think she took the bus directly into downtown; I don't think she found work in Burbank, it was definitely downtown. I think it was definitely downtown in that industrial area because she used to go with her girlfriend.

RM: How long were you in school in Burbank?

PS: I think probably maybe through the first grade. And then they moved, and it's really funny, but I don't remember when we moved to, like, Thirty-ninth or Fifty-ninth street, and my mom said we went to school there. The only school I remember was the one when we moved to Third and Flower, and I was in the third grade by then. So there was a big gap I don't remember.

RM: The second grade year. Did any of your teachers do anything when you and your sister were in this terrible position of being bullied?

PS: I don't remember any of the teachers ever saying anything or helping us out.

RM: Did they treat you any differently than they treated the other kids?

PS: I don't know. All I know is I was kind of an angry child, and I think the teachers always had me separated. Because I had a temper about... my sister conformed better than I did. But I don't know, I never felt any prejudice there. I did as I got older.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.