<Begin Segment 12>

TI: So I'm curious, so you went from Scottsbluff, Nebraska, to, you know, eventually Stockton, California. And Stockton, California, has a much larger Japanese community...

AM: Oh, yes.

TI: ...than Scottsbluff. What was that like, going to a much larger community, Japanese community?

AM: Well, I had a bicycle and I remember doing shopping for dad or my mom. My dad would tell me, go down and go to the Star Fish Market and get some sardines or get some kind of fish or something like that, get some tofu. I used to be the errand boy. Right now, I think that's why I do most of the grocery shopping in our household. [Laughs] But yeah, they had, they had a pretty good-sized Japanese community there. That's where I learned, in school, I had lot of Japanese friends, but they'll all kind of gravitate, gravitate to each other anyway, you know.

TI: And so how, how did they accept you? So you're coming in, thirteen, fourteen, and sometimes that's a tough age. I mean, that's kind of when boys are going through puberty, and everything is changing, very, very dynamic. And sometimes you form these groups, and sometimes it's hard to be an outsider coming in. What was it like for you?

AM: Well, when I first started high school, I was a freshman, ninth grade. And I really didn't know anybody in school, but next thing you know, I got a nomination for president of our freshman class. And I didn't hardly know anybody, you know, I thought, "Wow." So there was a coalition of Japanese friends, I guess, that put me up for nomination.

TI: So this is, this is pretty remarkable. I mean, here you're brand new, the Japanese friends that you're talking about, they all grew up together in Stockton, and they supported you as class president. Why do you think they did that?

AM: Well, it appears that there was a strong bunch from a little settlement outside of Stockton, French Camp. They didn't have a high school, so the bus used to bring 'em into school. During that second year, they had a new school on the south side of town where we lived. Which meant that all those French Camp people were south, they would all be going to that same school. So I think that's, kind of popular after that. I met all these people and this and that, and then the war broke out.

TI: Well, still, I'm curious, Alfred, talk a little bit more why you were so popular. What was it that, that let you make friends so quickly?

AM: I don't know. I think, I think I changed quite a bit. I think I was more friendly then. Maybe it's because I was so naive. [Laughs] I think being, going through life kind of hardened me a little bit, you know.

TI: So if you were one of those Stockton kids, and they were trying to describe Alfred, how would they describe you back then? What kind of things do you think you think they would say about you?

AM: Well, being new there, I was probably trying to make friends. And if anybody said hello to me, I would try and make friends with them. And I think that's probably what it was. Because I didn't know anybody in town, just moving in from the country and this and that, and the first time to go to school. It just so happened, I think, that we moved into town just before the school term started. So that's the reason I think I was able to make friends, 'cause I needed friends.

TI: Well, at your high school, how many were Japanese? I mean, what percentage were Japanese Americans at your high school?

AM: Oh, I don't know, but there was, you mean the percentage-wise or something like that? It's hard to say. In my classes that I took, I don't know if there's maybe two or three Japanese in any of my classes that I took. But yet, I got to know these people and I don't know how they got to know me, you know. [Laughs]

TI: So did you become freshman class president?

AM: Beg your pardon?

TI: Did you become freshman class president?

AM: No. Another guy just aced me out, and it just so happened that he was from the same French Camp that those people who were supporting me. And he was Anglo, he was Bob -- remember his name -- Bob Bewly, he was a real nice fellow. And he just, I just missed by just a couple votes. I didn't ask for a recount or anything, I was kind of glad. I didn't want that.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.