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EK: And, if you don't mind sharing how and why you became active with the Seattle JACL chapter.

KB: Prior to moving to Seattle, I was providing legal services to low income individuals as a part of the federal VISTA program, and I was contacted by Denny Yasuhara, who was then president of the Spokane chapter JACL, requested that I assist him in persuading Washington State University to establish an Asian American Studies program. So we went down to Pullman as a community group, spoke with the administration, and were unsuccessful. We then... well, actually before then, began the work of drafting an administrative complaint to what was then the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination and educational services. Our objective was, under Title VI, to secure establishment of an Asian American Studies program at Washington State University. When I left Spokane for Seattle -- and this was certainly before that case was resolved or even filed with a GW, because I had finished my VISTA commitment -- Denny recommended that I speak with Mitch Matsudaira, who was then president of the Seattle chapter JACL. And so, once in Seattle, I dropped by Mitch's store. Mitch had a men's clothing store on Jackson Street in the International District. And I walked in and Mitch was there and so was Don Kazama. Don Kazama was also a prior president of the Seattle chapter, and they were very welcoming, said, "You should start coming to board meetings and you should join a committee," and that's what I did. And, at that time, the chapter had what I think is really an extraordinary approach to succession, which is that it provided -- I think that one-third, or a good portion of its board positions would be set aside for Sansei. And this helped ensure that the board, in fact, was intergenerational. And, it also, of course, meant that once people were on the board that they could develop into leadership -- leaders for the Seattle chapter. And so I became a board member. And it was an exciting time for the chapter. I was... I think we had well over seven hundred members, I think, when I was president, maybe seven hundred and fifty members. We had this incredible newsletter, a comprehensive newsletter, compiled by Ara Nagaoka. We would... it seemed to me it was like -- it felt like twelve pages of printed text that he, I believe, used a typewriter to put together. and he would come with stacks and stacks of paper and we would meet once a month and collate and staple and place address labels on these newsletters that went out to the community. We were truly a grassroots organization. And I think that... I was involved until approximately 1983 when -- 1982 and 1983, when my responsibilities related to representing Gordon Hirabayashi and his coram nobis case, just required that I pretty much devote all my available volunteer time to his case.

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