<Begin Segment 7>

AT: Did you -- I forgot to ask at the beginning -- but did you grow up in Seattle? Or have you been...

RI: I did. I'm a native.

AT: Okay.

RI: One of the few. [Laughs]

AT: [Laughs] Okay, so you have... and you said you were Sansei, did your parents also grow up in Seattle?

RI: They did. My grandparents came in the 19-teens.

AT: Oh, okay.

RI: And so over a hundred years ago. And, yeah, so my folks were born and grew up in Seattle, except for during the war years. And so yeah, we, my family has long roots, or deep roots here in the community.

AT: So then were... they were incarcerated during World War II?

RI: My mother was in Minidoka. My father, he was evacuated, but he had a distant family relative that was in Wyoming, in Worland, Wyoming, which was close actually to Heart Mountain camp. But I think it was you either had, you had to leave the area, so they were able to leave and go and stay with this relative in Wyoming. And they were actually the first ones and they actually formed a small Japanese American community there because they were able to leave the camp. Yeah, so they were in Worland, my dad's family.

AT: Oh, okay. Did they ever tell you about like their experience in camp at all?

RI: Yes. My mother was in the, I think sixth grade when she moved. So her memories are a child's memories, of a sixth grader. And so she would tell me, she'd remember that it was cold and wet and muddy, right? So you have to stay on the gang planks during the winter in order not to fall in the mud. But she remembered that the barracks, there were holes in the walls and gaps. And it was just a really unpleasant environment. One of the things that upset her was that she was in Block... I can't remember now. But it was quite a ways from where her neighbors were located, and her friends were. So she was bothered that how come she was out here in this one area, and all her friends were back in another area? And so... but yeah, so her memories are those of a child. The sad thing was that her sisters were older, and so they, most of them left camp to go work and live in the Midwest in Chicago and Detroit. So her family was never together after camp, or once they started leaving camp, so that was the last time that they were all together, which was sad for her because she was the youngest.

And then my dad, he was, I believe he was in high school. And so he was a little bit more aware. But the funny story he told me was where Worland was pretty close to the Heart Mountain camp, and so he said he and his friends, right, from the Japanese American community that developed there, they would go down to Heart Mountain for the dances inside the camp. And I said, "Well, were you ever worried that they wouldn't let you out again?" And he said, "When you're in high school, you never really thought about that. But that's where all the Japanese American girls were, so that's where we went." And so... but it was a harsh, it was a harsh existence, right? They did sugar beet farming, which is really hard work. He said that there was a German prisoner of war camp about five miles down the road. So it wasn't like they were in some tropical paradise or some vacation place it was, it was a pretty difficult existence. And so yeah, it's a...

AT: Yeah, my grandparents were in Minidoka, too, and I think they were around that age, also. I wonder if they ever met each other? Because I think my grandma was, my grandma might have been around twelve, so she might have been a little younger. Oh, no that's about sixth grade. Anyway, did you think your... hearing your stories from your mom and dad, do you think that ever inspired, maybe the activism that you ended up engaging in later on in your life?

RI: Yes, they were a big influence on me. So whether it was direct, I mean, they didn't... I think I'm very fortunate they didn't pass along any anger or prejudice, right, that you can't trust this group or beware of... so I was very fortunate that it was always in a positive way. My dad was longtime involved with the Nisei Veterans. He helped form and was president for a few years of the International District Economic Association. He was very involved with the First Alliance Club. He was very involved in all our sports and school activities. My mom, too. And so, I think that's more their influence, was in a positive way. But it can't help, right, but influence. Because it certainly influenced them. But yeah, I don't want to blame them for how I turned out.

AT: [Laughs] Of course, of course. Yeah. Well, thank you for that.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2022 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.