The Way We Look - 2009
I am of Japanese ancestry and was born and raised in Hawaii. My wife is of German descent and grew up in Wisconsin. Our 9-year old daughter is a third grader in Liberty, Indiana. She just recently came home upset by her friends who insisted that her mom was not really her mom because they don’t look alike. My wife explained to our daughter that she looks Japanese and she was shocked. She finally realized why she looks different. Lydia is beginning to learn about the complicated negotiation of identity and race in America. I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii where racial mixing and ethnic diversity has created an interesting flip of the American attitude towards identification through race. People in Hawaii openly identify with their racial heritage. It is one of the first things we try to figure out or learn about a person. Japanese who have grown up in Hawaii are comfortable and proud to be Japanese. Japanese growing up on the mainland have a more problematic relationship with their identity. Looks matter.
During the spring of 1942, Japanese and Japanese Americans were imprisoned in American concentration camps because of the way they looked. They looked like the enemy and white Americans were afraid. These camps existed for three years. The Japanese imprisoned behind barbed wire, in the middle of the western high desert, observed camp rules, sent their boys to fight for America and did not commit any acts of sabotage. Their freedom was taken away and their lives changed forever because of their race. The unfortunate events of the evacuation and imprisonment of Japanese living in America during World War II should have bred awareness and inspired change in racial perceptions. But, the Japanese quietly worked their way back into American society. Today, a dominant white population, collective memory of the internment and a lingering fear of discrimination insidiously affect Japanese American identity. Race matters.