Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Sue K. Embrey Interview
Narrator: Sue K. Embrey
Interviewer: Glen Kitayama
Location: University of California, Los Angeles
Date: September 11, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-esue-01-0011

SE: Well, I think the legacy is, for the Nisei, if they hadn't been aware of it before, that they can use, that they should use their rights as citizens to ask for relief. So, you might lose maybe, but at least you may take, you know, you have to take that chance. And it's like Henry said, that some of his non-Japanese friends kind of, didn't respect us because we weren't fighting for what we thought was right, and that we were being so quiet and taking all that, I guess, on the chin. And also, I think, for the future generations, gives them some feeling that, "Well, our parents did it. You know, they suffered, but they went back and they fought, they took a stand."

We were young, we were not in any leadership position, and like Aiko said, we didn't know what hit us when it happened. And it took us a long time to really confront what had happened, and you don't like to say, "Oh, your government did this to you." When it's your only country, you don't like to say, "Oh, they did me wrong," and you don't like to admit that, so... I think part of that was the Nisei psyche, they're passing on a legacy to the third and fourth generation, and we did take a stand, we did ask for redress and we did get it, and maybe not as many Nisei as the Sansei and Yonsei, but there were some of us there. I think that's a legacy that's important.

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