Hawaii - James Michener [521]
"More important, when war came the Japanese on the mainland were herded into concentration camps and their belongings were ruthlessly stripped from them at five cents on the dollar. In Hawaii there was some talk of this, but it was never permitted to go very far. Right after Pearl Harbor a good many Japanese in Hawaii were rounded up for concentration camps, but my aunt tells me that she personally, along with other Caucasian leaders of the community, went to the jail and effected the release of those she knew to be loyal. In short, the Japanese in Hawaii had every reason to fight for America; those on the mainland had none; and the basic difference lay not in the Japanese but in the way they were treated by their fellow citizens.
"So is it not logical that if you tell a group of Hawaiian Japanese who have not been thrown into camps or robbed of their belongings, 'You can volunteer to help us fight oppression! that 11,800 should leap forward? And is it not logical that if you go through concentration camps and tell the brothers of these same men, 'We have abused you, imprisoned you, humiliated you, and stolen your belongings, but now we want you to volunteer to fight for us,' is it not logical that they should reply, 'Go to hell'? I am astonished that so many of the mainland Japanese volunteered. They must be very brave men, and I shall welcome them in my unit."
When President Roosevelt read the report he asked his aide, "Who is this Mark Whipple again?"
"You knew his father, Dr. Hewlett Whipple."
"The boy sounds intelligent. Is he the one who's leading the Japanese?"
"Yes. They're on their way to Italy now."
"We should expect some good news from that outfit," the President said.
One night in September, 1943, Nyuk Tsin asked her grandson Hong Kong, "Are we overextended?"
"Yes."
"If war ended tomorrow, would we be able to hold onto our properties?"
"No."
"What do you think we should do?" the old lady asked.
"I seem to have acquired your courage," Hong Kong replied. "I say, 'Hold onto our lands.' We'll pay off as much debt as we can, and when the war ends we'll tighten our belts and live on rice until the boom starts."
"How many bad years must we look forward to?" the old matriarch asked.
"Two very difficult years. Two reasonably dangerous. If we can get through them, the hui will be prosperous."
"I'm worried," the old woman confessed, "but I agree with you that we must fight to a finish. However, I've been thinking that we might start to sell off a few of the houses, to relieve the pressure."
"The pressure is only on you and me," Hong Kong pointed out. "The others don't know about it. If you're not afraid, I'm not."
It was a curious thing for an old woman of ninety-six to be worrying about the future, but she was, and it was not her future that concerned her, but that of her great family, the on-going thing that she had started but which was now more powerful than she. Therefore she said, "It is not only our money we are gambling with, Hong Kong, but that of all the Kees, those who are working and the girls in the stores and the old people. Thinking of them, are you still willing to hold onto everything?"
"It is for them that I'm doing it," Hong Kong replied. "I know the delicate structure we've built. A house on top of a store on top of a job at Pearl Harbor on top of a little piece of land on top of an old man's savings. Maybe it's all going to crumble, but I'm willing to gamble that when it starts to totter, you and I will be smart enough to catch the falling pieces."
"I think it's beginning to totter now, Hong Kong," the old woman warned.
"I don't think it is," her grandson replied, and for once he ignored his grandmother's advice, and she said, "This is your decision, Hong Kong," and he replied, "We started our adventure when the haoles ran away from the war, and I'm not going to run away now," and she promised, "At least I won't tell the others of my fears."
He therefore