NYC-Feature Story-World Trade Center

NYC-1994-05-13a
Carrie describes how her grandmother's internment in a prison camp during World War II affected her ability to trust others.

My Grandmother
Racism Destroyed Her Trust

By Carrie Yip

My grandmother's generation is known as the Nisei. In Japanese, it means the second generation. Her parents came from Japan after 1915. She and her sister and two brothers were born in San Francisco.

Because of racism against people of Japanese descent, during World War II she and her family were imprisoned in "Evacuation Camps" for the Japanese, even though some of them were American citizens. This experience affected her so much that she doesn't like to talk about that part of her life.

I think she and her family were terrified and also humiliated. Some people they knew even committed suicide. They felt deserted by all other people and didn't know what the future would bring. She talks about what she did in the camps (she did secretarial work in a unit where they passed out clothes), but she doesn't go into how she felt when she was there. She talks about it almost nonchalantly and makes it sound as if it was just another part of her life.

When they were let out of the camps, she and her sister worked so that their two younger brothers could go to college. She didn't have a chance to go to college herself, although she wanted to. My grandmother helped her brothers build their careers. One is now a judge and the other a vice president in a big Japanese corporation.

After she got married, my grandmother had three children right away. She was a Girl Scout leader and Cub Scout den mother and the president of the PTA of my mother's elementary school. After staying home for 12 years, my grandma went back to work so that they could afford to send three children to college. She worked for the San Francisco Civil Service and regularly took tests so that she could get better positions.

My grandmother is a very caring and altruistic person. She is also very critical, snobby, and has tunnel vision. She sees things only through her own experience and beliefs. She is not very open to other viewpoints. She lived during a time of the "Yellow Peril" when racist views against Japanese were very high. She doesn't trust many people, unless they are Japanese. Everything she does is mainly within the Japanese community in San Francisco. She grew up at a time when women "just didn't do certain things." It's hard for me to visualize.

I admire the way she lives her life. Her life has been very different from mine. Of course we see things very differently and live very differently. But still, it's like our lives are connected. Because she lived the life she did, things have changed. Her life too shows me how much things still have to change.

The author is a student at HS for the Humanities. The essay is reprinted from the Barnard College Essay Contest.

"Think About It":
Prompts for discussion and/or writing:

—Carrie's grandmother experienced prejudice as a Japanese-American, similar to the prejudice Arab-Americans are experiencing following the recent attacks on the U.S. Have older family members or relatives told you stories of prejudice they've experienced? If so, how have these stories affected you? If you have not heard these stories from elders, what stories about prejudice will you tell your own grandchildren?

—Carrie says her grandmother has "tunnel vision" and is not open to the views of others. Do you think there's a connection between her grandmother's experiences and her personality? Why or why not?

—Do you know people whose points of view have been impacted by past experiences with racism? How have they been affected?

—Carrie's grandmother only trusts people of Japanese ancestry. How hard is it for you to trust people who are different from you in race or ethnicity?