In L.A.’s Little Tokyo, Protests Draw Sympathy and Frustration

The last three days since Friday, since the demonstrations started, have been progressively getting a little bit more crazier and a little bit wilder. “ICE is not welcome here.” Friday and Saturday, we noticed that most of the crowd was being kept just north of us, but on the next block. Monday, they basically came straight down in front of us. My store is called Fugetsu-Do Confectionary. Was started in 1903. I am the third-generation owner. Was started by my grandfather. Being Japanese American, we were put in the camps. My mom and dad actually got married in a concentration camp in Wyoming. So we’re very sensitive to this cause. Japanese Americans have a similar experience with the federal government and being incarcerated for four years, but it’s hard to keep support of a group when you’re being victimized by a small minority of them. Ninety-nine percent of the protesters are law-abiding and they’re here to protest. Although not everyone in the protest group understand that to come to Little Tokyo and deface the windows and the buildings and walls, it’s probably the last place that makes sense for them to do. Yeah, we’re going to close. I already told them to start wrapping it up. It’s just like getting ready for a hurricane back in Florida — board up the windows. Well, we do that here in L.A. for this.