<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Okay, so let's pick it up Monday. So what happened on Monday?

AM: Well, we went, me and my brother went to school, and the only thing I heard was some sympathizers, that they all said, "Al, it's not your fault," this and that. And these were from, we're talking about Anglos. And half of the Japanese kids didn't go to school that day. Lot of my friends, "Where's so and so?" Lot of 'em came to school. So there was just very few Japanese that even showed up for school that day. And, but I remember a lot of my good friends -- well, I wouldn't say good friends -- but lot of my schoolmates that I, that I got along with real well, what they told me, says, "It's not your fault, it's not your fault," you know. And they sympathized with me, said, "Don't let anybody get you down," and stuff like that.

TI: How about teachers? Did you hear any comments from teachers?

AM: As far as I know, I don't remember teachers even mentioning that. They never said, "Leave Alfred alone," or anything like that, I just, I think they just left alone, and I don't think they wanted to raise any questions one way or the other. They just didn't want to stir things up, I think.

TI: How did the teachers talk about the bombing of Pearl Harbor? On Monday, I'm sure everyone knows what happened. Did they talk about it in the classrooms?

AM: I think, the only thing I heard was, "You know that we are now at war, and the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor." And we had to do our bit to, for the war effort and things, but I don't, it was just in the beginning of the war, so I don't think anything was really organized except it was just a big, big news, it was just a bombshell among all the people. They just couldn't believe that that's what happened. All the other ramifications haven't set in yet.

TI: So what about reactions outside of school? So other parts of Stockton, did you hear about any events or incidences that happened relating to the Japanese community?

AM: Yes. I do know that there was this one owner of the garage, there was a garage right in downtown Stockton, in the Japanese, so-called Japanese town. And they found him dead one morning, and some Filipinos, I don't know -- I think there was others there that identified the assailants as being Filipino. And, but that was the only thing I ever heard of that there was, in retaliation for Pearl Harbor.

TI: And so what kind of feeling, so, so Japan had, at the same time as Pearl Harbor, they had, they were attacking the Philippines. And so there was a lot of tension between the Filipinos and Japanese. And so the thinking was that these Filipinos killed the Japanese garage owner, is that what happened? I guess the question is, how did the Japanese community feel about Filipinos, do you think?

AM: They really didn't, and I think most of it happened with the Bataan, when the Japanese took Corregidor, and I think that's what triggered it. But up until then, there was, out in the farms, I would have to say ninety percent of the workers were all Filipinos. And matter of fact, we had a family friend, I don't know, he was just a worker out on the farm when we were out there. But he kind of took a liking to our family, and he used to, then he found out where we lived in Stockton, and he came to visit every once in a while when he was in town or something. And it was during the war, or I think it was just after Pearl Harbor or something like that, that winter, he came to the house and he had a great big box of salmon. He went to Alaska and worked in the canneries there during the wintertime. And when he came home, he brought a big case of salmon, and he brought it over to our house. And he, and I remember him saying that, not to worry about the war, said, "These are people over in Japan, they're not the people over here." He was very sympathetic. And you know, it wasn't all the Filipinos were bad, he really was a nice fellow. And then every once in a while, he used to come over and eat dinner with us or something, then evacuation, we don't know what happened to him after that.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.