There are many circumstances where we can feel alone. When your friends go out, but you have to stay behind because of work. When the rain patters against your roof, reminding you that there’s not much to do by yourself. When you enter your house after a long day, and the only thing that welcomes you is an eerie silence. When your own government betrays you and everyone you know. That was the reality for many Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War 2, same for the Spaniards during the Bombing of Guernica, and the Uyghur Muslims in China in this modern age. 

Having recently read the amazingly insightful graphic novel “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei, I was inspired by his story regarding his experience in the Japanese-American internment camps. Reading about past historical events in school textbooks is one thing, but having read and listened to a survivor’s story through their own words, their own voice; that material alone is incomparable to any other formatting.

For instance, these panels of the comics in particular struck me in a way I’ve never felt before. The text boxes included information that many other educational sources would have, but having the visual representation of real human expressions accompanied by the child-like dialogue, it notifies you of the grim reminder that these events occurred to everyday people, just like you and me. 

Without a doubt, these drastic actions taken by President Roosevelt and other military generals were majorly a product of racism in the United States, and the rampant propaganda portraying the Japanese people as monsters certainly did not help either. 

Though it has become much better now, racism is still a prevailing issue in all parts of the world, including the United States. There are still cases in which people are harassed based on their ethnicity, still attacks made on groups of people due to the color of their skin. What is better now, though, is that with the progress of the internet, our voices can be heard at new levels. There are many sources to find and share help with many others, such as the Stop AAPI Hate website that lists how to ask for help and what we can do to actively help this cause against racism. As a society, we should all work together to rid our world of this unnecessary evil and put an end to the gruesome history that seems to keep repeating itself over and over again.

 

“The Light of the World shall never cease

To those with heart and will;

The Life of Love will give us peace

At last when all is still”

– The World, Jessica Hoshino, a child of the Japanese-American Internment Camps.