<Begin Segment 8>

HH: Take an inventory of your friends, people you consider your friends. If you should classify that, as to their ethnic and racial makeup, how would you see them break out? Which is the largest group?

NH: Would be Caucasians.

HH: Caucasian. What's the next largest group?

NH: Well, the Japanese American community.

HH: Okay.

NH: And then after that, we'll come to Blacks.

HH: To what extent do you identify with the concerns of Latinos, Native Americans and African Americans?

NH: How...

HH: The kind of things that they struggle with? Latinos, Native Americans?

NH: I'm not... yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes I wonder about that, and I really haven't gone into that kind of situation they're in. Is it because we're "quiet Americans?" I don't know, maybe that's it.

HH: To put it another way, to what extent do you identify with the label the "model minority?" I mean not identify with, how do you react to the label? That's better yet. How do you react to the label "the model minority," which is the term over the years to identify Asians?

NH: You mean because they're more or less disciplined and... is that what you mean? They're educated?

HH: They're said to be educated, they're said to be employed, they're said to have stable...

NH: Yeah.

HH: Do you believe it?

NH: In a way, I do. I guess that's due to the fact that we were brought up by parents that had certain values. And we tried to honor those values, and I could remember my parents would tell me, "If you do something bad, you really bring disgrace to the family, so you want to avoid that." So you always try to maintain a straight line rather than something that's...

HH: Not bring shame.

NH: Right.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.