San Francisco Fire Department Fire Commission Vice-President and President

Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Steve Nakajo Steve Nakajo: San Francisco Fire Department Fire Commission Vice-President and President California Fire Departments Oral History Project Interviews conducted by Shanna Farrell in 2016 Copyright © 2017 by The Regents of the University of California ii Since 1954 the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Steve Nakajo dated June 8, 2016. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library/oral-history-center/rights It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Steve Nakajo “Steve Nakajo: San Francisco Fire Department Oral History Project” conducted by Shanna Farrell in 2016, Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2017. iii Steve Nakajo is a member of the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) Commission. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and lived in Japan, where his parents are from, before moving to San Francisco. In this interview, Nakajo discusses growing up in the Fillmore district, his childhood and education, ethnic consciousness and social change, culture in Japantown, the culture of San Francisco, working with the Juvenile Justice Commission and Arts Commission, joining the SFFD Commission, integrating the department, administration, SFFD leadership, challenges, controversies, and triumphs, the consent decree, budget, political changes, interest in logistics, and his hopes for the future. iv Table of Contents—Steve Nakajo Interview 1: July 26, 2016 Audio File 1 1 Birth and upbringing in Salt Lake City, Utah — Parents’ Japanese heritage — Father’s death, family’s move to Japan — Schooling in Tokyo — Managing conflict and dual cultures and languages — Returning to the United States, living in San Francisco, attending Catholic school — Another beating — Japantown and the Fillmore — The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II — The Vietnam era, the Black Panthers, ethnic consciousness and social change — Teaching ethnic studies at San Francisco State University — The Third World Strike at SFSU — Academics, community organizing, and Kimochi, Incorporated — Assimilation — Changes in Japantown — Japanese Americans and black Americans — Co-founding Kimochi in 1971 with Sandy More — Japanese American generations, transition, succession — Community dynamics — Leadership — Memories of Morning Star school and Sacred Heart — Politics in high school and in San Francisco — Frank Jordan, the mayoral race, and San Francisco’s Irish mafia — The consent decree, changes in ethnic representation in the San Francisco Fire Department — Nakajo’s work with the Juvenile Justice Commission and youth — Serving on the San Francisco Arts Commission and developing community arts programming— Mayor Willie Brown — Bob Demmons, “the nicest guy” and “the most fair” — The integration of the SFFD over generations — More about Chief Demmons — San Francisco fire chiefs, SFFD history, protocol, equipment, and discrimination — SFFD administration — The Emergency Medical Service [EMT] — Chief Joanne Hayes-White — Differences between Mayor Willie Brown, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and others — Development of Bayview-Hunter’s Point — Human resources at the SFFD, and professional evaluations — Discussion of celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge Interview 2: July 27, 2016 Audio File 2 26 Nakajo’s familiarity with the SF Fire Commission and the Art Commission — Judge Patel, Eva Paterson, Bob Demmons, other advocates for justice — Consent decree — “Hadley Roff is a patron saint of San Francisco” — Learning from Ray Connors — The SF Fire Commission and the consent decree — Fire Commission appointments — Mayor Gavin Newsom — A push to dismiss Chief Joanna Hayes-White — Negative media coverage — Politics and protocol on the Fire Commission, Board of Supervisors — More about Bob Demmons and the decision about whom to appoint as SF Fire Chief — Controversies around appointments v Interview 3: August 25, 2016 Audio File 3 49 Implementation of the consent decree — The SFFD’s mission statement — Equity, respect, gender— Discursive — Discursive — Discursive — Discursive — Discursive — Merger of emergency medical services and SFFD — Paramedics — The birth of Station 49 — “A lot of change in a very short period of time” — Changes in the atmosphere and ambiance of the Department — The SFFD’s partnerships and social service pilot programs — The Commission’s management of such partnerships and initiatives — Oversight of acquisition of new equipment and vehicles — The budget — City administrators — Ballot measures — The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and the SF Fire Commission — The Department’s budgetary priorities — Climate Action Plan, Mutual Aid — Neighborhood Emergency Response Team [NERT] — Cultural and economic changes and the SFFD — Race — Nakajo’s reflectiveness and interest in logistics — Hopes for the future of the SFFD [End of Interview] 1 Interview 1: July 26, 2016 Farrell: This is Shanna Farrell with Steven Nakajo on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 and we’re in San Francisco, California. Steve, can you start by telling me where and when you were born and a little bit about your early life? 01-00:00:23 Nakajo: Okay. I’m just going to talk freely. Farrell: Yeah, absolutely. 01-00:00:28 Nakajo: And I’m going to make some references to your outline, because your outline’s real good, to at least keep me on focus. I’m going to give a little bit of a description, in terms of how I usually narrate and speak, because I used to teach at San Francisco State University. I taught graduate division and undergraduate, and I started in ’71, after the San Francisco State strike, which was ’68, ’69, in the formulation of the School of Ethnic Studies. So I talk almost like a lecture, in the narrative with that. I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m the second son. My older brother, Ben. I have two sisters. My oldest sister is Christina. We call her Tina. And my younger sister, Helen. My father, as I explain it, was of all things, an Episcopalian minister. I say that because it just kind of, as an adult, baffles me than an Issei, first generation Japanese from Japan, would be an Episcopalian minister. I just can’t comprehend that. My mother, as best as I can get it, came over from Japan as not particularly a picture bride, but I’m sure there was some arrangement to marry my father. Basically, my recollection of Salt Lake City and being born there and the interaction is somewhat sketchy, because at a very early age, my mother and our kids were told, “Let’s go to Japan.” Pretty much the justification, in my mind, was to meet our grandparents and to be exposed to the culture. My father was supposed to join us for what I term a vacation. What happened is he died in a heart attack back in Salt Lake City, while we were in Japan. So I talk a lot about that because that basically is that, number one, you grow up without a father. But you grow up without a father in the sense that, the last time you saw him, it was back in a beginning, Salt Lake City, with some childhood. Other than that, there’s no memory of that. So for myself, it became the reality base of growing up in Japan. Basically, the way I termed it is that we were, by my mother being a widow with four kids, I think we became abandoned. So basically, we survived in Japan. It’s amazing to me how my mother did that. But my recollection was that I remember me and my brother building our own bunk beds. I remember living in a shack that my mother was saying that the landlord up the hill was going to allow us to live in. I remember going to first grade. I don’t know how my mother did that, because it turned out to be a very prestigious school in Tokyo called Saint Joseph’s, that I later learned was a school for diplomats or foreign businessmen. A lot of Chinese, Koreans who were in Japan, they went 2 to that school. It was a tough school. I remember it being real competitive, but very miserable, except for one thing that I could excel, was that I used to run fast.

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