Demonstrators in Watsonville gathered last week to rally in solidarity with the Asian American community as a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes is plaguing the nation.When it comes to anti-Asian racism, 85-year-old Mas Hashimoto knows the issue intimately."When I was in the first grade, we were imprisoned. I am a prisoner of war," Hashimoto said on Friday.Hashimoto's family, including his mother, father and five brothers, were forced from their Watsonville home and sent to internment camps on April 27, 1942.The family spent three months at the Salinas Sports Complex, where Hashimoto says one of his brothers died as a result of a "baseball accident," and then three-and-a-half years inside of a barrack in Arizona."Each barrack had four rooms. Four different families stayed in one barrack," Hashimoto recalled. "Each block had 14 barracks and about 250 to 280 families stayed in each block. Do you know how hot it gets in Arizona? Northwards of 110 degrees in the summer."The memory of that heat and being imprisoned along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans is the reason why Hashimoto has spent his entire life teaching those about the impacts of racism.Prior to the pandemic, Hashimoto would visit schools around the Central Coast telling stories of his experience. He also shaped young minds for 36 years as a teacher at Watonsville High School.Watsonville has its own troubling history regarding Asian American history. It includes the Watsonville Riots in January of 1930 where hundreds of armed white men took to the city's streets, beating Filipino-Americans and destroying their neighborhoods. The riots ended with the shooting death of a 22-year-old man.It's partially why demonstrators found it necessary to stand in solidarity now."I thought it was important that we come out and show solidarity," rally organizer Jenni Veitch-Olsen said. "We have Asian American neighbors in Watsonville and they are a part of history and current community."The organization "Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate" tracked nearly 3,800 incidents of violence and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States in the past year.Hashimoto says the numbers are startling. And while his past is rife with pain, he remains optimistic for the future."We're making headway, we really are. Look who is here. People of all races. They're concerned. They love America, as I do," Hashimoto said. "We have to make for a better America. A truer America. Not a racist America."