WEBVTT
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How many of you are familiar with the
Japanese-American incarceration?
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[audience raises hands]
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Oh! Thank you, and good night.
[laughter]
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You guys are wonderful.
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I was a prisoner of war,
during World War II.
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Held by my own country.
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I was six years old.
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This is my prison number: 125...
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[checks paper]
12524.
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I'm the letter D.
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My family had 12524.
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My family and I were incarcerated for
three and a half years.
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In Poston, Arizona, during World War II.
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As a teacher, I would ask my students,
sometimes on the first day of school:
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"Draw an American for me."
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"Take out a piece of paper, and
draw an American for me. Okay?"
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And then I would go around the room,
and check the drawings.
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And sometimes, the drawings would be of
a stick figure.
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Not much better than kindergarten.
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Excuse me, Marsha.
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Marsha is a kindergarten teacher, my wife.
[audience laughs]
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Draw an American for me.
You get somebody in mind?
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Hm?
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How many of you thought of drawing a
woman?
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[audience stays silent]
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Thank you.
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A majority of Americans are women.
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Who says it's a man's world?
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Men, [laughs].
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Women can do everything a man can do.
And more.
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How many of you thought of drawing a
blonde, blue-eyed, hunk of a guy?
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[a few people raise their hands]
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Hitler would have been so proud of you.
[audience laughs]
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To many Americans, WASP is the
American—White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.
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If you're not a White Anglo-Saxon
Protestant, you're not really an American.
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You know, I'm not Japanese.
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I've never been Japanese.
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I'm an American, of Japanese ancestry.
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My father was Japanese, my mother was
Japanese, but I'm not Japanese.
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When I go to Japan, and I speak,
they laugh and they go:
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"We don't talk like that anymore."
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They know I'm a 外人 (Gai-jin),
a foreigner.
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When I was in London, shopping,
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and I had a nice conversation with
the sales lady,
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and at the end she says:
"Oh, you Yanks."
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She's looking at me, and I'm a Yank.
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But in this country—parts of this country—
I'm a damned Jap.
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And I don't mean just the South.
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There are parts of Idaho,
Montana, North Dakota and such.
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It's kind of dangerous for me to travel.
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Racism still prevails in this country.
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After 9/11—the attack on the twin towers
in New York—there was talk about
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rounding up all the Arabs and Muslim
Americans in this country, and
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incarcerating them in concentration camps.
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Now to his credit, George W. Bush—the
president—he, called the Cabinet meeting.
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And he told his Cabinet members:
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"We're not going to do, to the Arab and
Muslim Americans in this country,
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what we did to Norm Mineta
and his family."
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And all talk, about rounding up the Arab
and Muslims, stopped.
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And we were grateful.
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Now, why was Norm, his family, and 120,000
Japanese and Japanese-Americans
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—two-thirds were American citizens—from
Washington, Oregon, and California,
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incarcerated after the attack on
Pearl Harbour?
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Well, Cabrillo College instructor,
Sandy Lydon—historian emeritus—
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said the Japanese strawberry farmer of
Watsonville had nothing to do with the
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attack on Pearl Harbour.
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Did you know that there were 158,000
Japanese and Japanese-Americans
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living in the territory of Hawaii—it
wasn't a state yet—
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who were not incarcerated,
with the exception of about 2,000.
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They're in the war zone.
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Well they needed the Japanese and
Japanese-Americans in Hawaii
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to run the economy of Hawaii.
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They were the plurality, they were 37% of
the population—census was taken in 1940.
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Their general Evman said it's not
necessary to do this.
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There is no plans for sabotage.
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We, who were 2,500 miles away from
the war zone, we get incarcerated.
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Why?
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I have to take you back a little bit, in
American history.
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United States Constitution legalized
slavery.
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The U.S. government condoned,
and practiced racism.
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The Naturalization act in 1790,
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Asians, could not become citizens of
the United States.
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The Cherokee Nation.
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You've heard of the trail of tears?
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They were forced, out of their homes.
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Dred Scott decision, he was a slave.
Even free territory.
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There was an anti-Irish catholic mentality
in this country.
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There were signs that were printed,
and displayed: 'No Irish Need Apply.'
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Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
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Plessy vs. Ferguson.
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Separate but equal.
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How can the separate be equal?
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A. Mitchell Palmer Raids, 1919-1920.
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The communists, and, and Jews too,
were deported without trial.
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Just placed on a ship and shipped out.
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Immigration Act of 1924.
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Japanese could not come to this country
anymore.
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Fred Korematsu case.
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Our history is a history of racism.
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Discrimination regarding immigration
as well.
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In the early 20th century, it was said in
the newspapers—Examiner, The Chronicle,
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The McClatchy papers, you know,
Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, and
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The Sentinel—that the Japanese race is
an alien race which can never be
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assimilated into the American way of life.
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There is nothing of value, of
Japanese culture.
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Nothing of value.
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How many of you have eaten sushi?
[audience laughs]
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What about bonsai?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Ikebana flower arranging?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Origami?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Wax on, wax off?
[audience laughs]
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Karate?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Ah, Japanese culture is rich.
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And so many enjoy participating in
Japanese culture.
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To make sure the Japanese did not
assimilate into this country,
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laws were passed.
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Asians could not own property,
marry whites,
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become citizens of the United States.
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The attack on Pearl Harbour,
December 7th, 1941.
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John L. DeWitt, commander of the western ___,
as his fourth army.
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At the Presidio of San Francisco.
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Had the ear of the President of
the United States.
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He said: "A Jap's a Jap."
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"It makes no difference whether that Jap
is a citizen or not."
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J. Edgar Hoover said: "Mr. President,
we don't need to do this."
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Francis Biddle who was the Attorney
General at the time said:
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"Mr. President, I don't think we
can do this."
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There were no lawsuits filed
on our behalf.
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Executive Order 9066, was past
75 years ago.
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You know, there was one group, nationally,
one group, that supported us.
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The American Quakers.
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The American friends.
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They're the only ones.
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Nationally, not even the ACLU (American
Civil Liberties Union) supported us.
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Locally, luckily, we had some friends.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
City attorney of Watsonville, with John
McCarthy.
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Our police chief, Matt Graves.
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School teachers, public school teachers.
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And many others supported us.
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You know, the reward, they were called
'Jap Lovers' for supporting us.
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They had their homes and cars vandalized.
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And they were among the very first to
welcome us back.
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We had some very dear friends.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
In 1942, our homes were searched,
without search warrants.
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The FBI came into our homes—they got
the information from the Bureau of
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the Census.
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The Bureau of the Census is not supposed
to do that.
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We were hacked.
[laughs]
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There were no trials, except for four
people.
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But for the rest of us, we had no charges,
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no attorneys, no due process of law.
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[shows paper] This, the Constitution
of the United States,
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ceased to exist for us.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
From camp—there were ten major camps—
and from camps,
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our men and women volunteered to
serve in the United States Armed Forces.
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The men—many of them were in the
hundred 442nd Regimental Combat Team,
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the most decorated army unit for size
and length of service.
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My two brothers were in the MIS—
Military Intelligence Service—
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because they couldn't read and
write Japanese.
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They went to Japanese school after
high school each day.
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They fought against the Japanese.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We used the Japanese language as a weapon,
against the Japanese.
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The MIS stayed after the war,
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with the restoration,
occupation restoration of Japan.
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Their service during the war saved
countless American and Japanese lives.
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It is estimated that it shortened the
war by two years.
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Congress formally acknowledged the work
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of the hundred 442nd and MIS, with
a Congressional Gold Medal.
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And we're grateful.
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Our forced removal was illegal.
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Right?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
No.
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No.
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It's legal.
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The government of United States can
evict anyone from their homes.
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If, under the guise of
"military necessity."
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Today, we won't use that term.
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We'll use the term "national security."
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Congress and the president apologized
for our wartime experience.
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Civil Liberties Act was passed on
August 10th, 1988.
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We have an official apology.
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You know, of the 120,000
[laughs]
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the government expected 60,000 to have
died, and 60,000 were still alive.
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But we fooled them.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
80,000 of us were still alive.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
You see, sushi is good for you.
[laughter]
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There's only one race,
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that's the human race.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
There are those who wish to classify us.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Oh, you're Caucasian American,
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you're Asian American,
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you're Hispanic American,
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Black American.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
There's only one race
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
You know dogs, we call them German
Shepards, French Poodles,
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and Chihuahuas.
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They go to anybody, huh.
Right?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
They're colorblind.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I wish humans were colorblind.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[sighs]
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Today, the present administration
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is constantly issuing new executive
orders, policies regarding immigration.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Contrary to the spirit of America.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Fortunately—now—we have the Southern
Poverty Law Center,
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the American Civil Liberties Union.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We have so many groups and individuals
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
supporting what really is of
true America.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Something we didn't see in 1942.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Will it happen again?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Memory is short.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
No.
Not under the guise of military necessity.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So who's the biggest threat?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Some suspect it will be the reporters and
producers of fake news.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[laughs]
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It doesn't have to be an individual
or group.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
A national group, a racial group.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It could be an occupation.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The days of Walter Cronkite, the conscious
of America, are long gone.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Now we have the internet, radio talk
show hosts, TV commentators.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I'm grateful to be living here in
Santa Cruz county.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The second most liberal county in
the nation.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
You know, if you know the history of Santa
Cruz city, it wasn't always that way.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Yeah, minorities were not welcomed in
Santa Cruz.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Growing up, I didn't come to
Santa Cruz very often.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
But that all changed.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
How?
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Thanks to Cabrillo College.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And the University of Santa Cruz—
University of California, at Santa Cruz.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The intelligentsia came.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And it changed the whole county.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Today, this is the most wonderful place
in the whole world to live.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And I kid you not.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Gordon Hirabayashi.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He was a student at the
University of Washington.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
A Quaker.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He was arrested, convicted, imprisoned.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The prosecuting attorneys lied
to the judges.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Yeah, he spent some time.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Now, his conviction was vacated.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Not overturned, vacated.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Gordon Hirabayashi said:
"Ancestry is not a crime."
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Today we would add:
"Islam is not a crime."
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
With our newfound energy, we have
a lot of work to do.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
You know those, gentlemen who live not
too far from Charlottesville, Virginia,
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
at a place called Monticello.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Thomas Jefferson,
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
"Eternal vigilance is a price of liberty."
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It's up to us, all of us, to work in
peace, and harmony, compassion,
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
To overcome hate and bigotry.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And we can do it.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Thank you.
99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[audience applause]