<Begin Segment 26>

RP: Carol, I want you to look back like you have been doing, at your camp experiences and share with us how you feel they kind of shaped the rest of your life. What are the things that you took from Manzanar, positive and negative?

CH: Well, the work experience is very good. It's not... I need that kind of regimen, I guess. But it makes you realize that if you're confined into a small, well, area, that you have to do the best you can to do whatever you want to do, and not go back and pick up the negative things.

RP: You also mentioned in your write-up, you said that you lost, "I lost my naivete about government."

CH: What did I do?

RP: "I lost my naivete about government."

CH: Oh, yes. Well, I don't know exactly why my daughter wrote that way, but I kind of lost trust of them. So we've got to find some... well, if you go back to religion, you will not find any human beings that can really bring the government up. It's more like it's going down. That sounds kind of religious, but oh well. [Laughs]

RP: What are your feelings about the movement to obtain an apology for the...

CH: Oh, at the time, I thought it was, it was a good idea, but I didn't really push for it. The government wants to give us money, that would be great. I'm sure that there were a lot of people that thought of that, and what else. I know some people have rejected the idea of getting money, but I guess what we lost sort of compensates for getting it.

RP: Tell me about some of the... have you visited Manzanar? Have you attended pilgrimages?

CH: Yeah. When Marion was pretty young, I don't know what age it was, but we went to visit the camp. And at that time, we saw that the sentry house was all, in bad shape. But we got in through the barbed wire fence, and we scouted around. We said, "This is what was here," and it was great. [Coughs] Excuse me. I remember it was a very hot day, probably in August.

RP: So you shared your camp stories in a place where you lived with your, with your kids?

CH: Uh-huh.

RP: Did they seem receptive to knowing about...

CH: Uh-huh. In fact, all my grandchildren had to write a report on that kind of...

RP: Just a few more questions. What would you... if you were talking to a group of kids, say at Elk Grove High School or any school in Sacramento and sharing your experiences, what lessons would you want to offer them based on what you went through?

CH: Well, I would hope that the United States of America would not think of gathering people of their, because of their racial background. And, let's see, what else? And to listen carefully about what your ancestors or, you know, your grandparents or parents had to say about different things. 'Cause that's very important, that you know about lot of things, because it will come up. That's what I think.

RP: Do you have anything else you'd like to add to the interview that we haven't touched on?

CH: I think that's about it.

RP: Carol, thank you so much on behalf of us and the Park Service.

CH: I wasn't much of an interviewee. [Laughs]

RP: I think I would say differently.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.