Interviews

1. Stripped of Pride

2. Growth in Numbers

3. Convincing the Beltway

4. It’s the People

Nakano,Bert

(1928 - 2003) Political activist

Convincing the Beltway

We got criticized for sending a lobbying trip, and so-called people in the "beltway," they said that, "Hey, you don't do, you don't lobby from California to people like, people in Iowa, and, you know, in Montana or down south. You gotta have the constituents go up there and talk to 'em. You gotta know somebody." I said, "We don't believe that." We felt that the gut feeling of the Niseis going up there and telling their story to the Congressmen, whoever they were, they're gonna respond because they're human, they understand the human suffering. And when they, the Niseis went up there and talked about their own experience, we had the Congressmen in tears.

Date: September 13, 1997

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Larry Hashima

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Bert Nakano was born in 1928 in Honolulu, HI. While most of the Japanese Americans in Hawaii did not suffer through internment during World War II, the Nakano’s were one of the families from the islands that were rounded up and sent to concentration camps on the mainland. Nakano was then 14 years old. First he went to Jerome, AR and later Tule Lake in California.

After marrying and stints in Chicago, IL and Japan, Nakano resettled in Southern California. For years, Nakano was bitter about the camp experience, and rebelled against the feelings of shame many Japanese Americans felt about their heritage after the war.

In 1976, prodded by his college-aged son to get involved in issues about which he had strong opinions, Nakano joined the Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization, a grassroots group opposing the City of Los Angeles’ redevelopment plans that threatened the existence of low-to-moderate-income Nikkei residents and small family-owned businesses.

In 1978, Nakano helped found the Los Angeles Community Coalition for Redress and Reparations, which sought restitution for Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. In 1980, the Los Angeles group joined other community-based groups throughout the country to form the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations (NCRR). Nakano served as NCRR’s national spokesperson for nine years as the organization worked closely with Nikkei legislators, veterans’ groups and the Japanese American Citizens League and others to obtain justice. Bert Nakano died in 2003. (April 15, 2008)