As people might remember from the Worlds roll-call threads, I wasn’t able to go to Worlds despite an invite to be part of the judging staff. Instead, we went on a weekend trip with my husband’s parents and his sister’s family to celebrate my inlaws’ 50th wedding anniversary.
You read that right: 50 years. It’s really pretty amazing when you think about it, especially now that it seems so many marriages don’t make it even a quarter of that time. It was actually very low-key, as celebrations go: my husband and his sister, their parents, and the four grandkids, spending a couple of days together playing tourist exploring the Monterey/Carmel area of California.
My parents-in-law have been through a lot during their time on this earth. When they were about the age of many of you here on this board, the US was involved in World War Two. A pretty scary and uncertain time for everyone, that’s for sure; my own parents were in Hawaii, while my inlaws were in Northern California.
It was a bit more scary and uncertain for my inlaws, though: like my parents, they are Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, American citizens by birth. My husband and I are third-generation; our children are fourth.
Remember the backlash against anyone who looked ‘muslim’ or ‘arab’ directly after the September 11 attacks? That’s exactly what it was like for my parents and parents-in-law after Pearl Harbor. By birth, by education, they were as “American” as anyone else…but they didn’t look like it. Therefore, they were considered the 'enemy.'
And due to the racist, exclusionary governmental policies of the time…over 110,000 west coast Japanese (who could not become naturalized citizens, by US law) and Japanese Americans...their children, from adults down to infants, citizens of the US...were rounded up and sent to ‘camps’ for the duration of the war. With advance notice between days and weeks, this population…the majority of whom were American citizens and NONE of whom were EVER convicted of spying/aiding the ‘enemy’…were forced to leave the possessions earned from a lifetime of hard work and take only what they could carry to ‘camp’…small cities essentially, built in the desert wastelands of the West and Southwest where they would spend the next three to four years in barracks, each family in a single room. No trial, no appeal, no way to protest.
Try to imagine that for a minute: with anywhere from 24 hours to less than a month’s notice you have to decide what to take and what to leave behind. You don’t know where you’re going, so have no idea what kind of climate to dress/pack for…because you must take basic household necessities (sheets, blankets, plates, forks, cups) for each person, you'll have to reserve precious luggage space for them.
Forget about taking your pets: they’re not allowed to come with you, so you'll either need to find them new homes very quickly, or just abandon them...remember that your closest friends along with all your relatives are in the same boat as you and your family are. What will you do? Toys, books, prized family heirlooms…forget it, there's no room and they’d be under suspicion anyway since they were from Japan.
And guess what: when you read the newspapers and hear the news, the exact same terminology…words that are now in the autocensor of this board…are used to not only describe the enemy your country is at war with, but YOU, your friends, your family, your community. Not pleasant, is it?
One final bit of irony: my own parents, who were in HAWAII at this time, were not subject to this 'evacuation'. Had all the Japanese/Japanese Americans in Hawaii been incarcerated, the island economy would have been decimated without it's sugarcane and pineapple plantation workers.
....
It's difficult to put into words…at least, words that will stay within the requirements of these forums…my feelings when I returned from this trip to see the things posted here about the players who won Worlds: anger, disappointment, disgust…and a profound sense of sadness that so little has changed in 60+ years.
“Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it”…truer words have never been said.
We don’t know who is reading these boards; it’s completely possible that players from Japan are reading the ‘gym. Many Japanese are fluent readers of English: is what’s been posted here over the past few days the impression we want to give of the American players of this game we all love? Sore losers, accusations of cheating, liberally sprinkled with racial slurs?
I myself have been called a ‘***’…as have most Japanese Americans. To me, it’s like a slap in the face to open a post and find that staring up at me; I’d assume the reaction is the same for anyone who finds themselves subjected to their own particular ‘flavor’ of hate speech. Please THINK about what you post: you have no idea just who could be reading here. Unless the term applies to you, you can NOT say ‘it’s not a racist term’ or whatever other excuses I’ve seen for posting this terminology; it’s no less hate speech than other ‘forbidden’ expressions are.
In that vein, I and the other mods/admins of the ‘gym would like to ask that references to Pearl Harbor in referencing Worlds be removed from posts and sig files. This isn’t political correctness run amok; it’s all about making the ‘gym a place where everyone can feel welcome, and about continuing to represent ourselves and our country favorably to other players of our game, no matter where they are from. Say what you like in private, in email, via IM…but the ‘gym’s reputation as ‘the’ place for info/discussion is a double-edged sword: it can cut us down or build us up. Only we, the 'gym's members, can decide which one it’s to be.
'mom
You read that right: 50 years. It’s really pretty amazing when you think about it, especially now that it seems so many marriages don’t make it even a quarter of that time. It was actually very low-key, as celebrations go: my husband and his sister, their parents, and the four grandkids, spending a couple of days together playing tourist exploring the Monterey/Carmel area of California.
My parents-in-law have been through a lot during their time on this earth. When they were about the age of many of you here on this board, the US was involved in World War Two. A pretty scary and uncertain time for everyone, that’s for sure; my own parents were in Hawaii, while my inlaws were in Northern California.
It was a bit more scary and uncertain for my inlaws, though: like my parents, they are Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, American citizens by birth. My husband and I are third-generation; our children are fourth.
Remember the backlash against anyone who looked ‘muslim’ or ‘arab’ directly after the September 11 attacks? That’s exactly what it was like for my parents and parents-in-law after Pearl Harbor. By birth, by education, they were as “American” as anyone else…but they didn’t look like it. Therefore, they were considered the 'enemy.'
And due to the racist, exclusionary governmental policies of the time…over 110,000 west coast Japanese (who could not become naturalized citizens, by US law) and Japanese Americans...their children, from adults down to infants, citizens of the US...were rounded up and sent to ‘camps’ for the duration of the war. With advance notice between days and weeks, this population…the majority of whom were American citizens and NONE of whom were EVER convicted of spying/aiding the ‘enemy’…were forced to leave the possessions earned from a lifetime of hard work and take only what they could carry to ‘camp’…small cities essentially, built in the desert wastelands of the West and Southwest where they would spend the next three to four years in barracks, each family in a single room. No trial, no appeal, no way to protest.
Try to imagine that for a minute: with anywhere from 24 hours to less than a month’s notice you have to decide what to take and what to leave behind. You don’t know where you’re going, so have no idea what kind of climate to dress/pack for…because you must take basic household necessities (sheets, blankets, plates, forks, cups) for each person, you'll have to reserve precious luggage space for them.
Forget about taking your pets: they’re not allowed to come with you, so you'll either need to find them new homes very quickly, or just abandon them...remember that your closest friends along with all your relatives are in the same boat as you and your family are. What will you do? Toys, books, prized family heirlooms…forget it, there's no room and they’d be under suspicion anyway since they were from Japan.
And guess what: when you read the newspapers and hear the news, the exact same terminology…words that are now in the autocensor of this board…are used to not only describe the enemy your country is at war with, but YOU, your friends, your family, your community. Not pleasant, is it?
One final bit of irony: my own parents, who were in HAWAII at this time, were not subject to this 'evacuation'. Had all the Japanese/Japanese Americans in Hawaii been incarcerated, the island economy would have been decimated without it's sugarcane and pineapple plantation workers.
....
It's difficult to put into words…at least, words that will stay within the requirements of these forums…my feelings when I returned from this trip to see the things posted here about the players who won Worlds: anger, disappointment, disgust…and a profound sense of sadness that so little has changed in 60+ years.
“Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it”…truer words have never been said.
We don’t know who is reading these boards; it’s completely possible that players from Japan are reading the ‘gym. Many Japanese are fluent readers of English: is what’s been posted here over the past few days the impression we want to give of the American players of this game we all love? Sore losers, accusations of cheating, liberally sprinkled with racial slurs?
I myself have been called a ‘***’…as have most Japanese Americans. To me, it’s like a slap in the face to open a post and find that staring up at me; I’d assume the reaction is the same for anyone who finds themselves subjected to their own particular ‘flavor’ of hate speech. Please THINK about what you post: you have no idea just who could be reading here. Unless the term applies to you, you can NOT say ‘it’s not a racist term’ or whatever other excuses I’ve seen for posting this terminology; it’s no less hate speech than other ‘forbidden’ expressions are.
In that vein, I and the other mods/admins of the ‘gym would like to ask that references to Pearl Harbor in referencing Worlds be removed from posts and sig files. This isn’t political correctness run amok; it’s all about making the ‘gym a place where everyone can feel welcome, and about continuing to represent ourselves and our country favorably to other players of our game, no matter where they are from. Say what you like in private, in email, via IM…but the ‘gym’s reputation as ‘the’ place for info/discussion is a double-edged sword: it can cut us down or build us up. Only we, the 'gym's members, can decide which one it’s to be.
'mom
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