<Begin Segment 13>

RP: Just a few more questions. What, what do you think... let me just phrase that again. What makes, in your mind, the Children's Village story so important to you as well as, you know, larger public discussing the 60 Minutes program and that type of thing? Why do people need to know about the Children's Village? Why do they need to know about Manzanar?

DB: Well, I'm not so sure that, that I can deal with that question. But what I'm going to say is that the bigger picture is something that I think we can stress. The bigger picture is a history in which a whole small nation lost their civil rights. And that is the issue that I think we need to focus in on. Is to build a political base so that never happens again. And I think it pretty close is happening with the prisoners which have been taken in the, the various wars we're engaged to at the present time. So, I have this concern which is simply that we cannot let it happen again. And that's the overarching issue for me. I probably can, I think, be happy with the American people and our last presidential... I think that was a very significant action of the people and I don't want to get into a big discussion politics, but we were certainly in my opinion going down the wrong path for the last eight years.

RP: In reading the interview that appeared in the book, Twice Orphaned...

DB: Yes.

RP: ...there was a statement that, that you started your search for your, your family --

DB: Yes.

RP: -- on your mother's side in nineteen, I think it was 1957.

DB: That's correct.

RP: And what, why did you start then? What made you want to start that search?

DB: I think couple of things. One thing I think is that the issue of the unknown was plaguing me. The issue of not having a family, other than the family which I helped produce, but no brother, sisters, aunts, uncles, and so forth. Those are the primary reasons. I think that may be a selfish reason. But it was doing no harm. And I got very close in 1958 to coming upon the discovery of my Tojo side of the family. Only to have the person with all the knowledge who was helping to suddenly forget what we were all about. And suddenly couldn't remember anything. Was it a conspiracy? I'm not into conspiracies much but, I really felt that we were very close. And the time went by and I didn't get back to it. You know, I really, the last six years, I really got closer than all the other years because I was putting forth an effort. And it was just a stroke of luck that the Tojo family appeared in northern California, a member of the Tojo family appeared in northern California. A friend of mine happened to see her name on the expected guest list, and it was Tojo. And from there eight months and we had closure on that issue in spite of my mother's denial. She, she never fully confessed, fully indicated that she was my mother. Close, but if you were to ask her to tell you that she was, she'd tell you all that she knew which was probably, I don't want to answer that question.

RP: In addition to you telling your story, sharing your experiences as you have, have you been politically involved in any movements such as the redress effort or...

DB: No, I wasn't into, involved. I did receive the redress money and...

RP: And what were your feelings about that?

DB: I think it should have been bigger. I personally took my redress money and gave it to nonprofit organizations. So in that way I think I was taking that sum of money and using it to an advantage for the welfare of others. I've fully supported the redress movement. My involvement was not in that. I've been involved with other organizations, individual rights and so forth. Just because of the nature of my work and love.

NH: And I was wondering about your work with the schools. Could you describe a little more about what that job was after you got done teaching? You said it had to do with unions, but I was curious. Could you give more detail on that?

DB: Well, my job as the union advocate was to create a system in which the union could effectively represent its membership. In the area of teacher rights, for instance, they had the right to have some rules and regulations, but they had no right to enforce them. So one of the early career activities that we had as a union was to dispel that belief that the teachers had all this power. They didn't have any power at all. 'Cause if somebody, if you can do something and somebody can grab it out and put it over here, you have lost everything. Then we came to a period of time in which the current situation occurs where there are collective bargaining rights. This effectively gives the teachers a vehicle to enforce the agreement that they have with the board of education. And theoretically both sides have similar powers. But the fact is that may be true in some instances and it may be true less. But the premise is there of the equality of the relationship and the power of the relationship. Now, the particular job that I was in, I was a generalist. I handled everything from, "The principal changed the grade that I gave the student," to organizing for teacher strikes, to generally make life pleasant, better, for my client. And we did that locally by supporting candidates. We'd do it on a statewide by our ability to influence the... you know, the current political body. We do it just by getting out and pounding the streets, handing out fliers and bringing it to the attention the dissatisfaction teachers have with whatever is happening. And those were fun days. They were. It was fun. I'd like to do it again. But I'm too old. Did you have another question? I wish you had of.

RP: Dennis, do you have any other stories or remembrances that you'd like to share that we haven't touched on yet? Or, perhaps I can frame it this way. Do you have any lessons from all your experiences that you would share with young people?

DB: Yes. And, it's not very limited. But I would tell them that we as a country, we as a nation, must protect vigorously our Bill of Rights. Because that's the only protection and strength that we have. And, I could not overstress that. I could not overstress it.

RP: On behalf of Nancy and myself and the National Park Service, thank you for a very special interview.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.