DEI Updates Oct. 25

10/25/2022 8:21 pm

Voices Heard AAPI Community Event October 22, 2022

Judy Kusakabe Speech Transcript

 

Thank you to all of you who worked so hard to make this event happen.  I appreciate and applaud you. 

My husband and I have lived on Mercer Island for over 50 years.  When we arrived, we were 30 years old.  We came with two preschoolers and were expecting our third child.

 

We were hoping for the best because we had left another city in Washington where we were made to feel uncomfortable and different. 

 

We came to Mercer Island and were immediately embraced.  We did not lose our Japanese identity and we were not treated differently.  We have loved living on Mercer Island and have tons of Islander lifelong friends.

 

Paul and I, our three children, and our four grandchildren have never experienced any racism on Mercer Island.  That is fantastic, isn’t it?  But that is the way it should be. 

 

Now, as a grandma, you will see me at the activities of our grandchildren.  At sporting events, I sit with a See’s lollipop in my mouth, cheering for our grandkiddos and their teammates.  Why a lollipop?  Because it is supposed to keep me from talking so much.  It doesn’t work.

 

I am usually smiling … and talking.  I am approachable.  I talk to anyone standing still for even a minute.  My friends are always telling me, “Don’t embarrass your grandchildren.” I tell them, “Too late.”

 

When I asked my grandkiddos if I embarrass them, they tell me, “No, we think you’re cool.”

 

A mother of an 11-year-old baseball player told me that her son told her, “You know Caiden’s grandma?  She is like the kind of lady you would like to marry and spend the rest of your life with.  That really touched my heart.”

 

Every time I think about this, I think of a quote from Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, please will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

 

I retired from my job as a therapeutic dietitian to raise our family, but I found that I had too much spare time while they were in school.  I love kiddos, so I became a school cook at Lakeridge.  I figured that I could teach them nutrition while feeding them lunch. Those were the days, when the district had a dietitian and the meals were set and prepared at the schools. 

 

When I was serving the kiddos, some would balk at the veggies on their trays.  I told them that everyone had to have at least two veggies because it would help them to grow up to be healthy and tall.  I loved that job, it was the best!

 

I created a Science study guide for the 7^th grade kiddos.  I knew that parents might need assistance helping their children study, so I rewrote the Science books into simpler outline form.  We had study sessions, so raucous and fun, that the kiddos started asking for more.  All of our Special Education students got As and Bs in Science.  They had fun, and so did I. 

 

For the last 20 plus years, I have been giving presentations about the incarceration of our Japanese community by the American government during World War II. 

 

I had talked to 1,200 children and adults a year before the pandemic and more currently have been giving presentations to about 800; and expecting more this year.  Maybe even in Hawaii!

 

I talk to all of the 4^th graders on Mercer Island and to many schools and groups throughout the greater Seattle area. 

 

In 1942, 120,000 Japanese Americans, 2/3 of whom were American citizens, were blamed for Japan attacking Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  We were sent to American prison camps for up to three years.  We were denied our constitutional rights.  This happened though no person of Japanese ancestry living in the United States was even charged with spying. 

 

I was born while my parents were incarcerated on the Puyallup fairgrounds.  We lived in horse stalls or quickly built wood shacks.  After a few months, we were sent to a more permanent location in Idaho. 

 

Grandparents, men, women, children and babies were imprisoned behind barbed wire fences with armed soldiers watching the camp from guard towers.  The living conditions were very bad.

 

We had lost our dignity, but worse, we lost our freedom and liberty.  No one talked about it.  It was like a big secret full of painful memories and sadly not many stood up for us. 

 

In 1945, we were released to start our lives all over again.  Many had no homes to return to.  It was a challenging battle to return to normalcy. 

 

Then in 1987, 42 years later, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act.  We were wrongfully punished, we had not done anything wrong, and America was sorry.

 

We all got written apologies and a redress compensation.  The most important thing was the apology.

I began to gather and share stories because I believe that children and adults should learn about what happened in American so it would never happen again. 

 

I believe now that more people should stand up for us and have their voices heard. 

 

This is my voice and I want to be heard by as many people as I can reach. 

 

I want to thank you parents for raising your wonderful children to be kind, respectful and compassionate. 

 

I want to thank all of the administrators and education providers of the Mercer Island School District. You have created an atmosphere of joy and kindness while you educate our kiddos.  I feel the warmth every time I walk into a classroom. 

 

Currently, my friend Gei Chan and her husband, Matt, have joined many others to stand up for the Chinese community and the International District of Seattle.  Their voices were heard, and changes are going to be made.  I am very proud of them. 

 

See, voices can be heard and can make good, positive things happen.  Thank you. 

 

I thought that it would be meaningful to you all to hear a couple of the stories that I share with others when I give my presentations about the incarceration not included in my talk on Saturday night. 

 

As soon as Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, a list of prominent Japanese was revealed by the FBI.  The men on these lists had their properties searched, bank accounts held, and they were taken away to prison.  There were no search warrants, no warrants for their arrest, nor any chance to defend themselves, and were denied their legal rights as Americans. 

 

Kazzie, my friend, was in her bedroom with one of her three sisters.  It was her birthday. 

A black car drove up to their home and three men in black suits went into their home.  They searched the first floor of the home.  They were looking for anything that could be used for sabotage or spying for Japan. 

 

The FBI started up the stairs and Kazzie’s mother yelled upstairs, “Hurry and get dressed!” 

The men rushed up the stairs with guns drawn.  She had yelled in Japanese. They burst into Kazzie’s bedroom and the girls were so frightened.  The FBI searched through the closets, drawers, toy boxes, and even the pockets of the little girls’ dresses.  Of course, they did not find anything. 

 

They went down to the kitchen and sifted through the flower boxes.  And then, with their dirty hands, searched the family bin of rice.  Kazzie’s mother screamed at them.  They did not find anything, so they turned around and took Kazzie’s father away to prison for two years.  He had not one anything wrong. 

 

Executive Order 9066 was issued on February 19,1942 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  All Japanese Americans on the west coasts of Washington, Oregon, California, and the southern part of Arizona were to be sent to prison camps. 

 

We were going to have to leave within weeks.  We could only take what we could carry. 

 

My friend Pat was only 10 years old.  Her father told her that they were going camping, so she could choose her favorite toy to take with her.  She chose her teddy bear.  She as very excited to go camping but wondered why her parents were packing up all of the belongings in their home. 

 

As they left for their camping trip, Pat yelled out the car window, “See you when I get back, Charlie!”

Charlie was her best friend.  Then, Pat looked at her father.  He was crying. 

 

Pat told me, “My father never cried before.”

 

Instead of camping, they were incarcerated at the Puyallup Fair Grounds, and then sent to a more permanent camp in Minidoka, Idaho.  Pat never saw her friend Charlie again, and her family never returned to their home. 

 

You could only take what you can carry.  You were not allowed to take your pets. 

 

My stepmother Mitsi had a puppy named Chubby.  She was devastated to find out that she could not take her with them when they were to leave for the prison camp.  Mitsi and her family lived on a farm in Bellevue.  Her neighbor offered to take care of Chubby.  When Mitsi took her puppy to the home of the neighbor, Chubby became very frightened of the big, growling dogs.  Mitsi took her puppy home.  She could not leave Chubby there.  Soon, another lady called her.  She told Mitsi that she would take care of Chubby. 

 

While at the camps, the lady wrote letters to Mitsi pretending to be Chubby. 

“I had a wonderful dinner of chicken last night and had a fun time playing with my puppy friends at the park.”

 

When Mitsi passed away, we were cleaning her home.  We found in her bedroom nightstand drawer these letters from the very nice lady.

 

Mitsi appreciated the kindness of this lady so much that she had kept the letters close to her for all those years. 

 

Kirby Larson, a Newberry Award winning author of children’s books, wrote a book based on Mitsi and her dog Chubby.  It has won many literary awards.  She found me, I shared my stories about Mitsi, and we became friends.

 

The book is titled “Dash” and has been on the “Global Reading Challenge” many times. 

Thank you very much for your interest in our Japanese American community experiences during World War II.  

 

Saturday, I loved seeing a lot of old friends, new friends, and all of you who are now my new friends.  I am 80 years old, so I do have senior moments.  I am not good at remembering names, so please refresh my memory.  Thank you for a happy, wonderful gathering.