Densho Digital Repository - In Memory of Kip Tokuda Interview (Densho ID: ddr-sjacl-2-40-3)

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AT: All right, so we can kind of, if you'd like to talk, just go right on ahead. So Kip served as Washington's 37th District state rep from '94 to 2002. And Bill has mentioned Kip securing an enactment of the Civil Liberties Public Education Act, that would ensure that Japanese Americans who experienced World War II, that experience will not be forgotten by generations after. And so if anyone would like to talk about just these efforts that he put into this and what qualities he had that enabled him to kind of secure this passage of this bill, if anyone would like to talk, speak on that.

STS: Why don't I go ahead and start, since I'm probably, have the closest inside information. I think what's very important is I'm so happy that the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund program is not only a program that commemorates Kip's leadership, in statute in the laws of the state of Washington, but that that is part of our collective community, remembrance and memory. Because, in fact, the way the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund bill was enacted, it did not carry Kip's name as the prime sponsor, and that is something that people often forget. It was very much Kip's style to put other people in a leadership role to help garner broader support. And one of the things that is very important and key to understanding how the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund program was developed, is to understand that in the state of Washington at the time, the House of Representatives was in a tie situation. The Democrats and the Republicans had exactly the same number of legislators. And so for anything to get through, you needed to have the support of both parties. And so consequently, during that period of time, most pieces of legislation went through ninety-eight to zero. The bill that eventually became the progenitor of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund was actually carried by a Republican member of the House who lived on Mercer Island. And because Mercer Island had a very large population of Japanese Americans, and because the prime sponsor was somebody that Kip already had a very good relationship with, but it was also a relationship where he cultivated the prime sponsor's knowledge of what occurred in World War II, how it affected that sponsor's constituents, and why it would be very important for the state of Washington to help preserve stories just as we're preserving the story of Kip and his impact. He wanted to make sure that the stories of our Issei grandparents and our Nisei parents were remembered, and while they were still alive, wanted to capture that information. And so, it did take quite a bit of educating and it was preceded by when Kip, in 1997, offered the very first resolution to commemorate the Day of Remembrance. And that's where he started all of this. And I think that this was a direct consequence of not only his lifetime work, being the child of parents who were incarcerated, being the brother of a sibling who was born in the camps, but then also all of his leadership with the Japanese American Citizens League. He knew it was very important to begin by commemorating the events so that he could begin to educate his colleagues in the legislature. And so, I'm so very proud to be able to share that information because it was very unique at the time. And so Kip's name is not the front name, but it can never be mistaken or forgotten that Kip was the heart and the energy behind creating the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund and starting the Day of Remembrance in the state of Washington.

AT: Yes, thank you so much for that. Before I ask another question, does anyone have anything else to add on to that?

AM: I just think that...

BT: I just wanted to add that... oh, go on, Akemi.

AM: I think Washington became a model for the rest of the United States in terms of public education after redress passed. So, it was an ideal, wonderful way to implement part of the redress.

BT: I wanted to add that part of... it just reminds me so much of Kip, his engagement. And his connection to these, to this law is that it was really well thought out and involved aligning potential programs with current Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction guidelines, to make sure that anything that would receive a grant would also align with the OSPI guidelines for instruction. And he made it open to not only educational institutions, but private institutions and organizations to tell the story of the World War II experience. And, more than that, he tied it into emphasizing the fragility of constitutional rights, and how it would relate to contemporary society. And finally, Kip remained connected to this program even after it passed. And he worked closely with the OSPI office and actually made sure that any proposal was going to be looked at by a group of community folks who actually knew what they were, about these experiences. And I remember he actually recruited me at the beginning, and I stayed on there for almost twenty years looking at all these grants. But it was just part of Kip to be sure that this was full circle. It's just not passing a bill. It was seeing this through and, and that's one thing that I always remember Kip for.

AT: Yes, thank you guys for that.