Freedom. A word that America loves and represents the most. A country that has a nasty history of stripping it away. Whether it be slavery, or the Japanese internment camps, America is not innocent by any means. The real question is, how can we avoid this from happening again? How can we avoid repeating history?

I believe the key to avoiding past mistakes is education. Change always starts from the new generations, and teaching them about the atrocities and injustices of war can raise political leaders that have more empathy and understanding. Nowadays, it is hard for teens (including me) to focus and really relate to any lessons in history class. If you really want the newer generation to pay attention, it has to be in media form. For example, making learning fun is a great way to get students engaged in the curriculum. With that logic, we can use movies, books, or comics to educate.

America’s history with Japan is not a pretty one. The persecution of Japanese Americans during World War II, combined with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are crimes that can not be justified by the word ‘mistakes’. Many of us who were not alive at the time, may think of it as a distant past. We know that it happened, but we don’t know the details and we don’t know how terrible the situation actually was. To further go in depth, and learn about the situation, I would recommend reading the graphic novel They Called Us Enemy and the movie Grave of the Fireflies.

Photo of Japanese Americans being sent away to internment camps

To start, They Called Us Enemy is a graphic novel created by George Takei, and it illustrates the Japanese American experience in the Internment camps of 1942-1946. Graphic novels are easy to read, and it makes reading a lot easier for those who dislike traditional reading. It’s not comedic, nor was it made for the purpose of being entertaining, but I believe it does its job very well. It’s emotional, shows the struggle of every single person involved, but most importantly, documents the journey of climbing their way back up. Being forced to live away from your home, and still being able to make the most out of the situation, is an inspiring feat of courage.

One of my personal favorite panels from They Called Us Enemy, showcasing raw emotion.

Studio Ghibli, one of the most successful animation studios in the world. Based in Japan, it is only natural that they would create stories based off of Japanese history. one of their older movies, Grave of the Fireflies is set during June 1945 and documents the struggles of two siblings just trying to get by. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie as heart wrenching as this one. I believe it is a movie everybody should watch, just to really show people that war is never worth it.

Just to give it a brief summary, Seita and his little sister Setsuko are alone, as their mother has passed away from the bombings, and their father is away in the navy. They get sent to live with their aunt, who eventually drives them away to live on the streets. They struggle to get food on the table everyday, but again we get to see them make light out of their dark situation. Seita takes Setsuko to the beach to play, they catch fireflies together, he saves candy for them to eat together, and really they have a childlike wonder despite the war.