there was not only the sense of trauma, but also for young people a great sense of boredom. there was a lot to do there. they felt like they'd been exiled in the middle of nowhere. so the older nisei began to organize clubs for the younger. some of the clubs continued, the new clubs formed to give them something meaningful to give them an outlet for their energy. they were filled with sports activities, dances and the things they were trying to do to maintain more out. one of the interesting clubs is one founded by yuri kochi on. she became rather famous as an activist who is a friend of mathematics. during the war she was in the family center and then she was sent to the drone can. she was teaching sunday school

and she realized that a number of her students, her pupils that brother serving in the military and she wanted to participate in the war effort, but she also wanted to give the growth of a meaningful to do. so she started a club called the crusaders and the crusaders became immensely popular. they were writing, sharing letters for servicemen, showing the first of the brothers and relatives and friends of her students and more and more gross joins the club because they wanted to help out and they were sending letters, postcards to thousands of servicemen. yuri kochi llama herself wrote to 15,000 nisei soldiers by herself and the crusaders continued throughout the war and the servicemen were very enthusiastic and appreciative

and found them a little money to help them out so eventually they were able to found real letters and to send envelopes. >> host: professor matsumoto, you said 15,000 letters were sent by one girl. nisei were about to serve in the army, but otherwise interred. is that a fair assessment the situation for japanese-americans in world war ii? >> guest: yes, on the japanese-americans who lived in the western coastal states in the southern third of arizona were all incarcerated. during the war men were in fact recruited and drafted from the camp. so there are many, many ironies of the situation and there are many brave and who agreed to go in brave men who also resisted. so it is a very, very

interesting and complex intense situation. >> host: when its effort to japanese-americans society carefully integrated into american society? >> guest: well, that's a really good question. do you believe american society is now fully integrated in terms of race? >> host: i don't answer questions. i just ask them. yes go i thought it was the prerogative of the interviewer. if you're interesting to think about the trajectory of american history and the different generations. and i think that we can see from the foundation laid by the first and second generations that this is given a springboard for the generation of our generation to become active and society in different ways than i think that we can particularly see this in

the outgrowth of the japanese-american third-generation who became involved in the asian american movement during the 1960s and 70s. as a period of great social ferment and i think most people know about the civil rights movement and the american indian movement. these are not always as familiar with the asian american movement in it it was also very robust in grotto the same and they were very much inspired by black power and leaders like knocker max. but i have to say looking at the organizational structure and the way they did davis, the way they were helping local community needs and take in on local community issues that in some ways they really followed the pattern of the prewar organizing of their parents. even though some parents are sort of horrified at the

militancy of their children. i think it is probably because of their own organizational ability and commitment to community that we can see the outgrowth. i would say the fact that their children were able to become so active and to also both generations be active in the redress movement. the movement for reparations from the war, which resulted in the civil liberties act of 1998 does indeed coming in now, stems from the earlier activities. >> host: what sparked your interest in nisei culture and the nisei culture world? >> guest: well, i was given a talk to a group of japanese-americans in san francisco who were almost 50 years and they have asked me about my first book and i was talking about how hard it was her adolescent and about their

lives. they started telling me about the parties, the dances, the penpal clubs, and the advice and the whole road i not thought about opened up before me. i thought i have to find out about this. that was the beginning of looking into delight to the urban nisei. they had a very good time. >> host: is there a book about the son say? >> guest: there are -- >> host: from you i should say. >> guest: i have written about the involvement because dubbing from this early research. >> host: >> host: what do you teach at ucla? >> guest: i teach asian-american history, 20th century history. co. teaching a freshman class with several scholars have other departments on interracial

dynamics and presently a teacher class a nation american history through food waste. >> host: we all want to take that class. but on the asian american history, is it a general one-to-one type course? >> guest: yes, it is an introductory class. we start with immigration to hawaii and we talk about -- i sort of do a start from immigration to why he and also the chinese coming to the u.s. west because of the gold rush, which drew many people from around the world. and i might add the return its restaurants and services go for the gold rush. on. restaurants have been popular since 1850 and there was a very rich history from the early immigration, which brings a whole new influx of people from other parts of asia.

>> host: "city girls: the nisei social world in los angeles, 1920-1950" is the name of the book. for faster valerie matsumoto is the author. >> of next coming ucla's jorja leap talks about her book "jumped in." this 20 minute interview was recorded at ucla and is part of the booktv college series. >> host: "jumped in" is the name of the book. jorja leap of ucla is the author. "jumped in: what gangs taught me about violence, drugs, love, and redemption." professor leap, where two games teach you and how? >> guest: well, it depends on which of those who want to begin with. but what they tied me more than anything without there's very little difference between all of us. i know that sounds almost like a

cliché, but what i derive them continue to learn from the time i spend with them as they are not that different from any of the rest of us in terms of their dreams for their ideas. somewhere along the way they took a different turn. >> host: how long have you been working with james? >> guest: the second question is interesting and leads me into the first. it depends on who you are talking to. if you go to the lapd or line for a snack, they have a strict definition of what a. three or more people congregating on a corner or in public, planning some type of criminal activity. so you can get a very, very specific down to the number definition. three or more people. remember it not just three people hanging out. three people constant reading some criminal activity. so they are sort of making a plan to do something that doesn't fall within the range of the law.

but we take a broader look. gangs come in all shapes and sizes. i have had gang members say the von forstmann is the biggest game of all. people who belong to a sorority or fraternity might be perceived as part of a gang. people in girl scouts and boy scouts may be perceived as part of a game. uniforms are rituals, symbols, all kinds of things. so it depends. how long have i been involved with gangs and gang members and trying to understand gangs? literally since i began my professional life is a very young social worker in south los angeles in 1978. so the real answer is very very long time. >> host: so when you talk about gangs, how do you define them? >> guest: i ask the members. i ask them how they see it. the definition doesn't come for me. i'm more interested in people and how they identify

themselves. if they identify themselves as part of a neighborhood for a game because it's often a synonym, i listen to them. but i'm much more interested in how they talk about themselves rather than a label i put on them. >> host: how organized are these neighborhoods are gangs? >> guest: i love what father greg boyle says. it is disorganized crime. they are populated by adolescents and young adults. if anybody cast their memory to their own adolescent or raising teenagers, they know how impulsive, how disorganized, how live for the moment individual fire. at that is not to discredit the kind of games we hear about in the news, drug cartels, corporate organizations who are very carefully organized around drug distribution and product. this is not who i know. this is not to have lived with.

what i've lived with her the shifting click send different connotations of men and women in los angeles to come together and identify themselves as part of the neighborhood. >> host: we think of the bloods, the crips. is that who we talk about today? >> guest: it is fascinating because we think about plus encrypted that certainly has been the media and film cannot kinds of things like that. the vast majority of gang members in los angeles in the county of 30 are brown, mexican-american and central american or latino. so yes were talking about african-american gangs like collecting clips, but were also talking about latino and mexican gangs, which is into the fifth-generation and anything

from ms-13, essential american gang, 13th street. some of these well-established gangs. people always say what about the aryan brotherhood? what about asian pacific games? what about samoan gangs? by a margin los angeles about latino. >> host: is your ethnicity determine which gang you may or may not belong to? >> guest: is becoming more elastic. it used to. but the members want to become bigger. i know now that mexican gangs in central america and gangs will take black numbers of african-american gangs will take prime numbers. the real answer to your question is it depends. also, they are now taking female members connected not used to be the case a couple generations ago. >> host: how central to the lives of adolescents and young people in south-central are

these games? gasquet that's a good question. it depends. there is still there. they are so full of the lives of young people, but not to the end they've seen in the past. they are lessening their hold. it is still there. so part of the history. so part of the generation. but the young people are beginning to perceive alternatives other than being in a gang. it is a slow, slow process. but i'm going to be very honest with you. a lot of the gangs in south los angeles and ethos angeles have migrated. they no longer just in los angeles. they are granted in land empire to san san bernardino. they've also gone to las vegas. we all need to understand is

they are relocating. >> host: what are some of the alternatives you spoke of the vacancy alternatives to a gang? >> guest: the city of los angeles undertook a very, very aggressive prevention program a little over five years ago during the tenure of mayor derosa. that has had an impact. there are also many, many nonprofit agencies that have labored very long and very hard in south los angeles and ethos angeles and they are finally seeing the fruits of their labor. betake communities in schools, community center, they have worked with one or two generations of gang members. those members are now having children or attack children and they are trying to take them down different pathways. i'm also involved with a program

that is really received the benefits called project fatherhood, which is sponsored by children institute inc. and it is a program that helps fathers who were formerly incarcerated for former gang members really learn how to father their children. so when you say let's change that, it is not any one thing, but a number of different programs and forces coming together. >> host: jorja leap, what is homeboy industries? >> guest: the official meeting of homeboy industries is the largest gang intervention program in the united states of america and certainly in the city of los angeles. there's more gang involvement in men and women. it reports more gang involved men and women than any other organization in the country. what it is is the dream of father greg boyle who is a choice of a priest who began working with gang members two decades ago. what started as this tiny for

the shoebox office grew into what is now a huge enterprise that trains gang members and providers there appeared a community and has a series of businesses or social enterprises with five numbers aren't fully. for example there is a home by a group or gang members learn to do scratch baking. it's also the home growth cap a poor father greg says waitresses with attitude learned to serve and learn about his services. i really do feel like i ever write because i'm a talker named after me there. they have tattoo removal. they've removal. there've been myriad of services, everything from the unity of project fatherhood talking about helping gang members learn how to parent their children. they have educational classes, tutoring, young members get their high school diplomas.

it's quite important. >> host: is there a percentage of the crime committed in south-central or in l.a. that you can attribute to gang activity? >> guest: it depends who you talk to. it really is felt that the majority of violent crime was gang related. but it's a difficult thing to do fine because here is the deal. let's say i am a gang member and i take a wallet. if i take it is that a gang crime or am i just taking your wallet? let's say i'm one of the bloods and you're one of the crips and i decided because you are one of the crew of some to beat you up. should those two crimes be classified the same way? one is clearly gang related. the other is petty theft. so it's tricky. that's the answer to your

question. violent crime in los angeles tend to be gang related. certainly in the past, the majority of homicides committed in los angeles for an gang territories and were believed to be gang related. >> host: on the news this morning mla there is a triple murderer. and i didn't see any details. could that be a gang activity? >> guest: first of all when it's talked about in the media, i learned to listen with a third ear. they will say on the media, we are trying to roll out whether or not it is gang related. there are also certain signs that suggest maybe it is gang related. number one, if it is any gang hotspot or gang territory where gangs are known to function and war. that's number one. number two, if it does involve young man, they continue to be

the greatest object and not only the greatest perpetrator, but the greatest target them victims of violent crimes. it's not the elderly. it is young men of color at the highest risk. i also tend to look at who does it involve? has involved some unused middle-aged or someone who is 21? is that somebody -- is there some kind of violence and also might there be a sign that it's black on black, black on brown, brown on black. is color involved in some way? these i want to stress you are suggested. i don't way to watch tv in a bingo, various gang involvement here going back to my example. but there are things that suggest that when you hear it on the news. i'll be honest, sometimes i hear someone drove by in a car in south l.a. and i won't meet tier is involved.