Japanese and American Indians

What I read:  Sumiko and her family arrive at a camp in Poston, Arizona.  This is an internment camp for Japanese and Japanese American families during world war II.  It's called the Colorado River Relocation Center, but really it's more like a living prison for the people who are stuck there.



When Sumiko arrives, she is surprised because she hasn't experienced this much heat. She is originally from California and this is her first time in the Arizona desert. She can't believe how hot it is.



She meets an American Indian boy called Frank soon after she arrives. Frank lives right next to the camp, but outside of it.  Sumiko and Frank are about the same age.  At first, Frank acts like he knows the camp and the area around the camp better than Sumiko does. Because of this, he acts a little condescending towards Sumiko.  Also, when Frank talks to his friends, it's clear that they have a lot of stereotypes against Japanese people and a lot of wrong ideas.





At the same time, there are a lot of people in the camp who have negative stereotypes of the American Indians who live around the camp.  So this prejudice goes both ways.

Later on, Frank and Sumiko learn more about each other's differences and they become more friendly.



What I thought about: I thought a lot about the prejudice parts of this book.  It makes me think about the racism between two different cultures and the hatred they have towards each other in the story.  In the story, the time is the 1940s.  It might seem like it makes sense to have fear and hatred when there is a war going on, like there is in the book. But this is not really true since today there is a still a lot of fear, hatred, prejudice, and misunderstanding between groups, even if there is no war happening currently.  

One group that I think about a lot is Muslim people.  Right now in the United States, and especially with the election happening between Clinton and Trump, there is a lot of prejudice against Muslim people.  Some Americans feel like it's okay for them to have this prejudice.  They even think that all Muslim people are terrorist.  I think that this is terrible and that it shows that we still have a long ways to go to make thins better.

What I conclude: I think that by the end of the book, Sumiko and Frank will become amazing friends. They come from different cultures and racial groups and this means that they have more bridges to cross to make a friendship between them.  I think they will, though.  I'm excited to see if I'm right and how they might live their lives after the war is over.  

Sumiko's Life Before Pearl Harbor

What I Read:

I started reading the book Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata.  It's about a girl names Sumichan (Sumiko for short), who is a Japanese-American middle schooler that is living her life in the U.S. before the attack on Pearl Harbor. When Sumiko gets invited to a party by a student in her class, she gets so excited because she almost never gets invited to a white American party. On the day of the party, her classmate's parents give her a slice of cake and tell her to leave, just because she's Japanese. 

Sumiko lives with her family in a Japanese neighborhood in southern California. Everyone in her family works on their farms growing crops, picking flowers and taking care of their animals, especially Baba (their horse). One day Sumiko and her family listen to the morning radio and hear that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese. A few days later Sumiko's uncle and Grandfather (Jiichan) are told to go to the police to be "checked". A few days later, Sumiko and the rest of her family are sent to Internment Camp. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT? 

What I Thought About:

As I start reading this book, I like that this story is being told from a Japanese-Americans' point of view. In the past, I've heard of many Pearl Harbor and World War II stories that are normally told from a white Americans', Nazis', or Jews' perspective of the war or Holocaust. Still, when Sumiko and her family get sent to an Internment Camp it reminds me of what happened to Jewish people at the start of the Holocaust. This story keeps on reminding me that what happened to Jews was terrifying, but look at what was happening to Japanese-Americans in the U.S. after Pearl Harbor. 

Something that seems really interesting yet shocking to me at the same time is that the offensive word referring to Japanese people is already being used. This is demonstrating to me the hatred that Americans had toward people from different races.

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What I Conclude:

I can't wait to read the rest of this story and see how Sumiko lives her life during the Second World War. Despite the fact that this is a historical fiction story, I think I'll learn a lot about American history during the Second World War. I think that Sumiko will survive the Internment Camp and start a new life. However, her life and perspective of life will change a lot because of her experiences there.

Also, I think that it's really unfair that the Japanese and Japanese-American people were treated like that during World War II.   It's understandable that people get scared during a war, but Japanese-Americans never planned for the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor.  So, it's unfair to take away their rights and freedom when they didn't do anything wrong.  It's embarrassing to think that this happened in American history.