Densho Digital Archive - Fumie I. Shimada Interview (denshovh-sfumie-01-0009)

<Begin Segment 9>

RP: You told us that your father was rehired?

FS: Yes.

RP: When that happen? After the war ended?

FS: The day they signed the peace treaty, my boss, my dad's boss came to the door and said, "Ishii, will you please come back to work tomorrow?" And he says... he had told us when my father died, he was helping us with the funeral arrangements, and he was telling us then the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life was to fire my father. But it was a government firing, it wasn't a Southern Pacific firing, and he couldn't do anything to stop the firing. But he did make the appeal to the governor. And these are the papers I was looking for in Carson City. Michi Weglyn had asked me to go and look through the archives to see if I could find even a scrawled message, and we couldn't find it. But when we found these, it was papers of that era, so I asked them, would they accept it. Would they give us reparations, or would they tell us, no, it wasn't Southern Pacific papers that we found. And they said at this point, they would have to accept it from any railroad. And I asked him if it would just be for the workers, or would it be for families. And at that time, De De Greene said, "Fumi, we would have to make it for families." And I said, "On that condition, I will surrender my papers." And of course, if I was going to sue in court, I would have to give all the papers to ORA first, or I wouldn't be able to use them in the report. So I did hand them over to the Department of Justice and to ORA. And I think without Bill Lann Lee's help, we wouldn't have been able to get reparations. I think it was a point where they had refused the railroad workers for so long, they had kind of backed themselves into a corner and didn't know how to come out. And I think Bill Lann Lee was a bridge to help them and help us. And after we made our appeal, in ten days, he gave us a verdict at a press conference in Los Angeles. And they asked me to come, and I refused because when I left Washington, I was told by JACL that it looked like it was only going to be for the workers. And they said that they didn't think they could get it through for the families. And I was upset because De De Greene had told me before I went to Washington that it would be for families. And they kept asking me to come for the press conference, and I kept refusing. And finally, we did get to ORA, and they said it would be very, very good news. So with that, they asked me to please come, and it was for the families.

RP: What emboldened you to go ahead and sort of pick up the torch on this? I know you were personally affected, but activists just don't pop out of the woodwork.

FS: Well, I think I had always kind of taken care of my family, my parents, after my sisters and brothers grew up. I was twelve. And I kind of had to take over the responsibilities because they were non-English speaking, or limited English-speaking people. This is just something I felt the government owed my father, was an apology for that firing because it did take a lot out of all of us. And it was, I guess it was a personal vendetta I had that I had to clear his name. And the more they refused me, the harder I fought because I knew it was an FBI firing, and I couldn't prove it. And it was so frustrating until I did find the paperwork. And with that, I think Patty Wada from National JACL had told me to contact NCRR in Los Angeles. And I contacted them, and they offered me a trip, an opportunity to go back to Washington and present our case. And this is where Amy Matsuura and I went to Washington and went in front of the panel and brought our stories out. And Bill Lann Lee ruled in our favor, and, of course, all the attorneys agreed to it. But we did everything they asked us to do, and it seemed like they were putting up roadblocks every time. And I got to the point where, at one point, I had told De De Greene, "I really believe you were trying to help us. But now I'm beginning to wonder, because you've given us roadblock after roadblock." And I'm not so sure that you're trying to help the railroad workers. And, of course, this kind of upset her, and I told her I'd bring the paperwork to show her that I really believed in her at one point. And at the meeting, Bill Lann Lee had come to the table and he was shuffling through his paperwork, and De De happened to be sitting across the table from me. So I gave her my paperwork and told her how I felt about it. How I felt that they weren't really helping us anymore. And Bill Lann Lee had been listening to our conversation, which I didn't know. And I told 'em, I said, "This ORA just doesn't have the leadership." It was just like 1942, you know, no one could lead anybody. So once I met with Bill Lann Lee at Sac State for a function there, and he was ribbing me and saying, "I'm not afraid to make decisions, Fumie." But we had a nice friendship afterwards.

RP: Bill was, he was an assistant attorney general?

FS: He was acting (assistant) attorney general at the time, and later he became assistant attorney general.

RP: Which would have been under the Clinton administration?

FS: This is under the Clinton administration. He had, there was a... somebody from Utah who was fighting (against him). Because Bill Lann Lee was... what was that act? Gosh, I can't think of the name of it (affirmative action). But this man from Utah was against the thing, so he was against Bill Lann Lee being (confirmed). But I think Clinton put it through with another bill, and got the papers through for him.