My Father's Gift

Kazuko Nakao and her family were among the thousands of American citizens of Japanese heritage that were forced into interment camps after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. It was a time of severe ditrust and racial stereotyping. One night the FBI came to take her father away, acusing him of being a spy. He, of course, was not. The family had to live in horrible, cramped conditions. Kazuko had her wedding inside the camp. After having to live in a camp for several years, the family was released with the end of WWII and able to return to their home. However, when the growing community came to Kazuko's father years later needing some of his land to build a new school, he did not hold a grudge against America and refuse to give up his land. Instead, he gave them an incredible deal and sold his land for the same price he had purchased it for originally, not the current value of the land. He was able to realize that eventhough he had hard times here, everything he had in his life was thanks to the opportunities he recieved from being in America. The school district was so grateful to him that they named the school after him and they make a point ot teach their students about what happened to Japanese Americans in the country's history.

Nakao, Kazuko. "My Father's Gift." Guideposts May 2007: 80-85.

During World War II, 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forced into interment camps while the United States was at war with Japan. The United States government and many of its citizens were afraid the Japanese were spies helping the enemy. All Japanese people, citizens or not, guilty or innocent, were stereotyped as potentially dangerous to the war effort and placed into camps. This happened to Kazuko Nakao and her family.

Kazuko’s family was living in California on their strawberry farm when they were taken from their home and forced to live in interment camps for three and a half years during World War II. The United States government determined that all Japanese-Americans posed a threat to the country and could be spies for Japan. Kazuko’s father was accused one night by the FBI of hiding a radio in his living room and was arrested. No charges were ever filed and he was released later that evening. However, the FBI had no reason to suspect the innocent man of any crime other than the fact that he ascended from Japan. Because he and his family were different, they were oppressed and unfairly treated during this time in American history. Johnson talks of differences and people’s fear of them in Chapter 2: “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference.” Johnson says that it is a common myth that people are fearful of the unknown but that it is not true. People become fearful when they think they might know something about the unknown. He says, “There is nothing inherently frightening about what we don’t know. If we feel afraid, it isn’t what we don’t know that frightens us, it’s what we think we do know”(13). The American government had never before been fearful of Japanese-Americans, not had other American citizens. It was only after Japan attacked the United States and the government became fearful of spies that this fear of the Japanese and need to put them under control came about. Although many of those imprisoned were good, innocent citizens that had been a part of the country and is prosperity, they were stereotyped as possible spies because they looked like the Japanese enemy.

I found this story amazing, not because of the Japanese interment camps but because of Kazuko’s father. I had learned of Japanese interment camps in school history classes so what happened to Kazuko’s family, though wrong and unfair, was no surprise to me. What surprised me was how generous and forgiving a person can be. Even though his family was taken from their home for over three years for no reason, when asked to sell some of his land to build a new school for the district, Kazuko’s father not only did so, but sold the land for what it was worth when he first purchased it, not for its present day value. After being so poorly and unfairly treated, he was still able to see that America had given him everything he had to be thankful for, everything he had hoped for when coming here. If forgiveness and thankfulness like his was more abundant, the world would be an amazing place.