Densho Digital Archive - George Hara Interview (denshovh-hgeorge

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LD: You talked about the Rose Festival, about really enjoying participation. Did the Japanese, the Nisei, the Issei businesspeople have a float every year? Did you always feel part of it because of the participation of the whole community?

GH: You know, I don't know if they had a float every year or not, but I see pictures where they had rather elaborate floats that they, you know, put together. And the Nisei beauties of the time, you know, really rode those floats. But I don't know if that was a yearly thing or not. My wife's side of the family would know more about it because --

LD: Did you know any "no-no" boys?

GH: Yeah, I knew 'em but never kept correspondence with any of 'em. And really, I felt a lot of them were very sincere and courageous in going that route. And I don't have any qualms that they, I don't think JACL had to apologize to that group, but I certainly sympathize with what they did. I think myself, if I had enough guts, I would have -- might have been part of that group. But here again, I was so anxious to get in the army. [Laughs]

LD: Do you have anything else that you'd like to say about, oh, the things that have come down to you from your mother and father? You've referred to some of them, about certain ideals that you felt were instilled in you. Have you passed them on, and do you see that going into your grandchildren?

GH: Well, I think most of us grew up with, you know, don't bring haji to the family, don't do anything to disgrace the family. That was number one, and even from the time I was small, they always said, you know, be proud of the fact of your Japanese ancestry, which is, you know, normal thing. You accept so you don't feel inferior to hakujin. But you have to study harder, do better than the hakujin on an equal level because you're in a hakujin country and you're competing against them, and you're a minority. And they knew that there was prejudice, but you carry that further. And they were very, you know, racially intolerant towards other minority group: kurombo, the Shinajin, Chosenjin, you know. And so the Isseis were very, you know, had strong racial discriminatory tendencies, and that carried over. And during high school, you know, you get the president of the club, there's certain social intermingling between president, and we would have joint things with other girl's club, particularly say Franklin, the Haikaikai Girl Club, and I could never bring myself to go on those things. I just had this complex that carried over. I think it was a fear that I wasn't equal to them; and second, if I step forward, they might turn me down. Jesus, the thought of being turned down by a girl, you know. Whereas with a Nisei girl, I was almost too brash and forward.

LD: Well, for my last question, is there anything that I haven't asked you about that you'd like to say?

GH: Probably tonight I'll think of something, but right now, I can't. I appreciate your time and effort.

LD: Thank you, very much. I think you did an outstanding job, and we covered everything.

GH: I really enjoyed doing it.