"My father ran and fell down and blood came out of his mouth" [ He was shot through the head ] recalled Yellow Birds son, who was four at the time.( Takaki 1993.)
I have been fortunate in my life to have two loving parents. Yellowbird’s son on the other hand was not so fortunate. His father was shot and killed at Wounded Knee right in front of his eyes. I feel a great amount of empathy for him having to grow up without his father and can only imagine the pain that he must have suffered. In my own life this experience hits close to home with me. My best friend John lost his father when we were in the seventh grade from a work related accident. I remember talking to him on the phone for hours during that week. We didn’t really talk about the accident, but when we did I could here the sadness in his voice. I recall telling him that I was there for him and that he could call me at any hour of the day or night to talk. John was already a very strong person, but I really saw his strength in light of this awful tragedy. I saw my best friend grow up into a man that year. Even though I knew he was going through a lot of grief, he rarely let it show. He always kept everything together and became the man of the house in his home, he was like a rock. I compared John to a rock because it is so fitting of his character. He was always strong willed, level headed and was there to support his family during this time of mourning. John is also like a rock in that he is very physically strong and worked his way to bench press four hundred and twenty pounds by our senior year of high school. John always had the qualities of a leader and he soon became the leader within our group of friends. I have been best friends with John now for thirteen years. I really admire the great person that he has become, despite the hardships that he has faced in his life. Not only was I there for him, but he has always been there for me. John is not only my best friend, he is a brother. The quote from Yellow Bird’s son also reminded me of my father.
My dad also lost a parent in his life. He is the oldest of five siblings in his family and had a very a very close relationship with his mother. When he was twenty-six years old he got married to my mother and had my older brother Shane. It was a great time in my dad’s life until one day his mom went missing. No one knew where she went or talked to her during a period of about three days. On the fourth day my dad’s family received a phone call about a woman being found in the water where my grandpa’s boat was docked. My dad decided that he would go to the coroners to see if it was her. At first, he didn’t recognize this women whose body was swollen and filled with water. Then he took a second look at her face and came to the grim conclusion that it was his mother. It turns out that she had been cleaning my grandpa’s boat to surprise him, but hit her head, fell in the water and drown. My dad and his family were really torn up by this heartbreak. I can not even imagine how terrible it must have been to identify the body of his own mother in that state of being. He was the oldest of his five siblings and took on that role during this tough time. I remember asking my dad where my grandma was when I was very little, and he would say she is up in heaven with God. To this day, I still know her as Grandma in Heaven.
“Their hope to be both Japanese and American would be violently shattered on a December Morning in 1941.” (Takaki 1993.)
This quote dealing with Identity and mistreatment towards Japanese Americans brings me back to the eighth grade when I read the book “Farewell to Manzanar”. The protagonist in the book is a young Japanese girl named Jeanne who lived on the coast of California before, during and after World War Two. Much like Monica in the Takaki readings, her family also faced prejudices and discrimination due to their ethnicity. Things only seemed to get worse after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. World War Two brought about a lot of problems for Jeanne’s family and many other Japanese American families in the United States at this time. I was fourteen when I read this book and was shocked to hear some of the things that went on in this country. The book described how Jeanne and her family were relocated to a concentration camp called Manzanar shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, along with many other Japanese Americans at this time. I could not believe that I had not learned about these camps in school prior to reading this book. Jeanne’s father was a fisherman and boated on the Pacific Ocean between California and Japan. The FBI became suspicious of Japanese fisherman at this time and detained Jeanne’s father because they thought he might be a Japanese spy. He was held until there was no evidence to find him guilty of such a charge. Like Monica, Jeanne experienced prejudice in her everyday life. I was particularly disturbed when a read about one of Jeanne’s high school experiences. She was very involved in after school activities and was a strong candidate for homecoming or prom queen. One of Jeanne’s teachers attempted to throw away some of her votes so she would lose. However, one of the students caught this teacher in the act, and Jeanne ended up winning queen. Many Japanese Americans during this time in history faced a great deal of prejudice not only because of their ethnicity, but because of war. My roommate who happens to be one of my closest friends also experienced a heightened prejudice after an act of war against the U.S.
I have been friends with Ahmed since the seventh grade. He has a great, outgoing personality and was always very popular in school. Ahmed is a Lebanese American and also happens to be a devout Muslim. Even though he was well liked he still had to face a lot prejudice and ignorant comments. One of the worst examples of this was during our sophomore year when we were coming back from Sandusky on the football bus on September 11th 2003. One kid on the bus yelled “Hey Ahmed isn’t September 11th like Christmas for you?” Some kids were laughing and others told the kid to shut up. I was mad and Ahmed was infuriated. We grabbed Ahmed to make sure the situation did not escalate any further. When we got back to Brunswick our coach gave us a speech about racism and made the entire team run because of the incident. Another incident occurred during our senior year at practice after the first day of school. I was playing offensive line and Ahmed was playing outside linebacker on defense. After one of the plays one of our coaches made a cynical comment to Ahmed: “Ahmed, did they actually let you carry a book bag at school today?” I was in complete shock after hearing the coach say this. I can still remember everyone on the field looking at each other in disbelief. The coach had a smile on his face and thought it was funny. Ahmed somehow kept his composure and just looked at the coach and shook his head in disgust. I could not believe that our coach had just made a comment insinuating that Ahmed was some kind of a terrorist and might have a bomb in his bag. Through all of these situations Ahmed always seemed to keep a level head and handled himself very well. I always respected him for this and know that he will be successful in life and in any endeavors he pursues.
"When they used to call me names like greenhorn, I felt that I would rather die than hear it again.” (Takaki 1993)
I found this quote to be very relatable and a feel that it holds a universal theme. Most people have been called names or made fun of at some point in their life based on appearance at some point their life. This quote can relate to a couple of experiences in my life. One of these experiences took place during my freshman year at John Carroll. One night my friends and I were walking to party and saw a group of students that we knew walk past a Jewish family on the sidewalk across the street. I could tell the family was Jewish because of their attire and they were wearing yarmulkes on their heads. As the students kept walking one of them turned around any yelled at the family: “Keep it kosher Jew Bags!” They started laughing and ran away from the family. I felt bad for the family because it was probably humiliating to be yelled at like that. I also felt bad for the father in the family because he had just been harassed in front of his own kids. In this situation I merely witnessed people being ridiculed because of their dress and appearance. However, I also went through my own personal incident in which I was the subject of mockery being labeled by my appearance.
When I was about fourteen years old a couple of my friends and I went to a water park called Dover Lake. I was at an awkward stage and was short and overweight. When we first got there I insisted on keeping my shirt on, but my friends told me to not worry about being heavy and not to be self-conscious. So I decided to take my shirt off and go one the water rides. To my delight no one said a word to me about being fat until the end of the day. My friends were about fifteen feet in front of me and I had fallen behind them. I saw a group of older teenagers smiling as they walked towards me and one of the guys said: “Nice tits fatty” I laughed even though I really didn’t think it was funny. I was actually really hurt by these words and none of my friends had heard the kid say this to me. I decided to never tell anyone about what had happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_qYKCc9m0AHow much different would our world be if people just thought about how their words can affect others?
