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EK: But thank you, and just to finish this off, in the interest of time and everything, to finish us up, finish off on your late grandmother and mother, Aki Kurose... and I am, just want to say I'm a super fan of Aki Kurose. I took a, I'm not sure if you know Vince Schleitwiler. He was my professor for Japanese American incarceration at UW. And I've known Aki before, but I got a better understanding of who Aki Kurose was through that class. And so, since then, like I said, super fan of Aki Kurose, and I remember, I actually wrote a, one of my one of my assignments in that class was to write about what we've learned thus far and I talked a lot about Aki, so just wanted to put that out there. But this is for everyone, so Ruthann, Paul, and Mika. Among all the projects, movements and work, social activism that your mother and grandmother has done throughout her life, what has made the most impact on you and why? And we've talked about this throughout the interview regarding Aki, but also how has she influenced the activism you've all conducted and contributed to, contributed to today? So going with the order of starting with Ruthann, and Mika, then Paul that would be great. Once again another heavy question so I can reiterate the question once again if you need.

RK: I think that my mother would first identify herself as a peace activist. And then given what's going on in the world today, my mom saw the horrors of war and she had an opportunity to work with Floyd Schmoe on the Hiroshima Peace Committee. And one of the most memorable, something that was most memorable to me was they would bring over groups of women, hibakusha women who were badly disfigured from the atom bomb, to our home, or they had several places with different Quaker families. And they would go for, to have their burns treated at the UW Medical Center. And I remember walking in on them once since they were using my, the bedroom and I didn't realize they were changing. And there you could see the kanji seared into their backs from the radiation. And they were civilians and it makes you think about what human beings do to each other. And I think that, I think that we're, given what's going on in Russia, it's different but it's... I think it's, I'm not very... we're a lot closer to pushing a button and causing much more damage than we did with the atom bomb. And I would... her antiwar activities and the priority that she gave it in her life is just as relevant if not more relevant now than it was as we were growing up. So I would say that would be, given the circumstances today, I think that was the most impactful issue that she cared about.

EK: Thank you, Ruthann. Well, thank you so much on that.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2022 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.