As I read They Called Us Enemy, I could see how frustrating it was for the Japanese and Japanese Americans to be treated so poorly and be categorized as aliens all around. Many were misjudged for the stereotypes the country put on them. This made me wonder, what other (living) things do we stereotype on the daily and don’t realize?
Spiders.
As some know, arachnophobia is the fear of spiders. It’s one of the most common phobias and with their unnecessary amount of legs and eyes, I find it completely understandable. They’re known to sneak into your house and if you’re that unlucky, they’ll bite you. Now, some bites can cause you lots of harm and can even kill you but what some don’t know is that they’re the minority. Out of all the thousands of species, less than 1% of them pose as an actual threat to humans. Although they might look scary and the thought of them biting you doesn’t sound that enjoyable, they’re probably more scared of us than we are of them and will probably run away than attack.
The way that we treat spiders now is similar to how the American government treated the Japanese back then during WWII. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, those who had any amount of Japanese ancestry in the US were considered aliens and would be sent to the internment camps and were prohibited from signing up and becoming US citizens. Many of them were innocent but because of the attack, all trust and respect for them was gone and the discrimination against them grew even though they had no say in the attack of Pearl Harbor. None of them were able to prove themselves and their loyalty to the country and had to live their lives in the camps where they were malnourished and constantly on the move.
That was until America needed more soldiers and decided that in order for the Japanese to show their loyalty, they were to answer a series of questions and if it showed that they were reliable, they would partake in the war and be able to apply for citizenship. However, those like George Takei’s parents found it difficult to answer some of the questions. Even though they had been wanting to get their citizenship, if they had said yes to these questions, they would be fighting for a country that had confined them for their ethnicity.
Moving on, I would like to specify that the questions were only to be answered by everyone over seventeen. The children of the camps were obviously not able to enlist and fight in the war but if anything, I think they had it worse. When I read this article, I realized how much confusion and trauma they went through. Kenji Ima, one of the many Japanese Americans confined in the camps, says “As a child, you didn’t have anything to compare it to… You didn’t know what you were doing there and what was going to happen next. It was simply there, and it was scary.” Instead of having all the freedom in the world on a playground and living like kids, the children lived their lives behind barbed wires. Not because they wanted to, but because they had to. They cling onto and follow their parents everywhere in confusion and rely on them for support but if the parents are sent away to the war, they will be left alone and go through the journey themselves not knowing if they’ll ever unite. As they grow older and begin to comprehend everything, they develop childhood trauma from the camps and separation from their parents.
Much like baby spiders, children in general need guidance from their parents and someone they know they can rely on. For instance, spiders when they’re born climb onto their mother’s back and stay there until they’re fully developed and can live on their own. The mother will do anything to make sure that the child succeeds and will stop what she’s doing to do so, much like what a caring parent would do for their child.
In reality, there’s not really a correct answer to the question “what other (living) things do we stereotype on the daily and don’t realize?”. There are countless answers to this and if anything, we should learn to stop stereotyping everything around us and let those do what they want to do without rumors following them around.
Write Our World 