Densho Digital Archive - Fumie I. Shimada Interview (denshovh-sfumie-01-0016)

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FS: But it was, you know, it's been a wonderful experience because I've met so many wonderful people in my travels. I went to UNLV and we had a little night there, of Andy Russell and I being on a panel. We've gone to New Mexico at the University of New Mexico, and Andy and I and his wife served on a panel there. And I've just met all these wonderful people at NCRR. I think there were about thirteen of us that went to Washington, D.C. along with Amy Matsuura and different people. And then I worked with the Latin American Peruvians. Grace Shimizu and I have gotten very close, and we've met together. And I said, "Grace, I want to help you," because I know the people who helped me, it was wonderful, and I wanted to do some payback.

RP: Give something back.

FS: So I've worked with the Latin American Peruvians. But I've just made such wonderful friends, you know. And I've had people call me from all over the United States. Florida called and did an interview for a paper. She did two articles on us. I can remember my dentist was telling me he was vacationing in Oregon and picked up the newspaper and he says, "There's my Fumie, right there in the newspaper," he was reading about me. I've had phone calls from Los Angeles asking for information. I had a girl from Seattle, Washington, call, thinking that she would be qualified for reparations because she lived near a railroad trestle. And she says, "ORA is telling me I need to know the railroad trestle," she says, "can you help me?" And I said, "You know, I have a little book I made up on all this, let me look it up and see if I can find it." So I called her back and I read her the description, she says, "That's the trestle." So I said, "Okay, let me give you a copy of what I have." And she wrote me back and she says, "Five of us got reparations because you helped us. This is wonderful." Evidently, they lived next to this railroad trestle and there was an FBI agent stationed at the trestle, so they couldn't -- I says, "What was on the other side of that trestle?" She says, "Swampland." I said, "Why would you want to cross it?" She says, "We didn't, but we were living by the..." so she says, "I think we're qualified," and they were. But here, they can qualify with that, but workers who were fired were denied? I don't understand this.

You know, they said, one of the ORA people had said the loss of a job is loss of civil property. And I says, "On that basis alone, we should have gotten reparations." But we've got a lot of railroad workers who have been denied. And it's sad because a lot of them are getting old or there are some with Alzheimer's now who can't testify and do the paperwork. We've had cases where the husband has qualified and the wife's family was denied reparations. They lived in the same town. One lady from Los Angeles had a lawsuit, she worked side by side with this other family, they lived next door to each other and they worked side by side. This lady with a lawsuit got reparations, the other person, they were refused. And yet, their stories are identical. I don't understand, you know, why one worker gets it and another one doesn't. But I'm hoping the Becerra's Act will help everybody get their reparations.

RP: And that would include these marginalized groups, other railroad workers?

FS: Uh-huh, hopefully also other --

RP: Close the book?

FS: -- Japanese American Niseis who did not apply because they didn't know they were qualified. In Reno, we have a lot of people that I think should have gotten reparations that didn't even file because they didn't think they were qualified. I talked to one person from JACL, and they said, "Boy, you shouldn't have gotten reparations." I says, "Well, they told us we were a unique case," he says, "There are no such thing as unique cases." But I says, well, he says, "My sister-in-law got reparations 'cause she was a railroad." I said, "Good for her." But we've had people who objected to us getting it, I don't understand why. You know, and there's other people who said we didn't deserve it, but they didn't even know our stories. There's other people who I think really should get reparations, and I'd like to help all of them get their reparations. They said the Italians are thinking about fighting for reparations, and I says, "They should," and I think they deserve it. I said I'd be happy to work with them to try to get their reparations.

RP: There's an organization representing German Americans.

FS: You know, there's a couple of people who have spoken on Grace Shimizu's panels about their internment. There's also a lot of Muslims who have been sent back to their country because -- just like the Japanese. And in a lot of cases, the Muslims parallel the Japanese Americans. So we've been working together, especially in Sacramento, with CAIR membership and everything. Because they said, "You were interned physically, we're interned mentally. Yeah. So history is starting to repeat itself. There's also, I found out, two internment camps the government was building to house the Muslims. That was during Desert Storm or something. So they are still trying to build internment camps. They haven't learned from the Japanese experience. And this is why the Muslims are really running scared, and rightfully so because so many things are being done parallel the Japanese experience. And I'm amazed at some of the things our own government has done in the year 2000, interrogating the Muslims. So our job isn't finished. Reparations has ended, but it can't close the door. There's too many forgotten people. And the Latin American Peruvians certainly deserve their reparations and their day in court.