Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Henry Nishi Interview II
Narrator: Henry Nishi
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Santa Monica
Date: April 8, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-nhenry_2-02-0027

<Begin Segment 27>

RP: So, when you look back on your life, Henry, over ninety-one years now...

HN: Yeah.

RP: ...how did Manzanar, what role did Manzanar play in shaping your life after camp? Did you take any lessons from it? Knowledge... did it change the way you see the world?

HN: It was just a segment in our lives that... well, I guess you would think that we would be bitter about something like this, but no, it's... or anger. We can understand it. I can understand it, why this all happened. But the world is changed enough... world is becoming much better in that respect. It's the hatred that people have for other ethnic groups. And I think that's really rapidly changing. And it has changed. But in our... some of the things that... just as a segment, our family, my dad, being in the nursery business, which means that a foreigner is competing against the natives of, the white people in America. So there was a big hatred only because it was competing in business with... and then because of the, because of that hatred and that... when they had the California Nurseryman's Association, they wouldn't allow... the Nurseryman's Association was supposed to be an association for all retail nurserymen, but Japanese were not allowed to be a member. Consequently, the Japanese formed their own association which you call the Japanese Nurseryman's Association. Of course, now it's, all that is... it's all changed. I was in the landscaping business. We had the California landscapers, California Landscape Contractors Association. But we didn't bar anybody from, because of their...

RP: Race. Was it your father specifically that was prevented from, was excluded from the organization?

HN: Yeah.

RP: Were you excluded from any organizations after the war?

HN: No, no.

RP: Is there anything else, Henry, that you'd like to share with us before we complete our interview?

HN: I don't know.

RP: Thank you very much.

HN: Okay, thank you.

RP: On behalf of Kirk and myself and the Park Service. You shared some very important stories today.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.