Interview with Yasuki Arakaki, session 2 of 2 (4/17/1991)
Interview with Yasuki Arakaki conducted by Michi Kodama-Nishimoto and Daniel W. Tuttle, Jr. on 4/17/1991 in the Hilo County Building Hilo, Hawaiʻi as part of the Hawaiʻi Political History Documentation Project. A Big Island labor organizer describes his plantation background, involvement in the ILWU, and political philosophy. Topics include: Jack Kawano's influence in labor organizing; efforts to consolidate workers into one big local union; anti-Japanese sentiment in ILWU national leadership; how the ethnic discrimination in the plantations led to the strength of the union membership; being accused of being a Communist as one of the Reluctant 39; his activities with the Democratic party including secret campaigning and serving as PAC chairman for ILWU; experiences with Arnold Wills from the National Labor Relations Board who supported union organization in Hawaiʻi; writing the strike manual which outlined the strike strategy used for the 1946 sugar strike, and is stiill used as a model; the differences between Mainland strike practices and local practices like soup kitchens and food distribution; maintaining amicable relations with police to prevent violence during strikes; ILWU PAC political endorsements including Tom Gill and Kenny Brown; legacy of Gov. Jack Burns; and discussion of Big Island politics and politicians including Martin Pence, Tom Okino, James Kealoha, Stanley Hara and Shunichi Kimura. Interview spans 6 videotapes. Transcript is available http://hdl.handle.net/10125/29906
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