“For so long I had thought of myself as an American. But I learned quickly, and won’t make that mistake again. I should have seen it coming. Forced to grow up in times of prejudice, I thought I had faced the worst. But I was wrong. Who knew having Japanese ancestry was a crime punishable by imprisonment.”
I had just turned 20, I was a little over a teenager and thought I had the world in my hands. I was ready to start my life and become the person I had always dreamed of. I was always made fun of due to my Japanese ancestry. But what harm could words do? I never let them get to me and everything was fine because I knew that there were many who had it worse. But I had a rude awakening. “Oka, wake up! We must hurry, we have little time,” screamed my mother on the morning of March 28, 1942 in San Francisco, California. That's when everything changed.
I had just turned 20, I was a little over a teenager and thought I had the world in my hands. I was ready to start my life and become the person I had always dreamed of. I was always made fun of due to my Japanese ancestry. But what harm could words do? I never let them get to me and everything was fine because I knew that there were many who had it worse. But I had a rude awakening. “Oka, wake up! We must hurry, we have little time,” screamed my mother on the morning of March 28, 1942 in San Francisco, California. That's when everything changed.