Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I have last blogged and recently in ASTU we have been focusing on the novel Obasan by Joy Kogawa.
In the novel, Kogawa goes through the process of remembering what she had experienced during the Japanese internment in Canada. At ths time, many Japanese Candians were discrimnated against because they were thought to be unloyal traitors and many believed that the Japanese Canadians would side with Japan in the war. However, it was more than just racism that the Japanese faced. They were sent to work to camps in Northern BC, families were separated, and all of their belongings were impounded. What surprised me about all this is how they treated all the innocent people.
My brother and I were born in Canada, but our parents and grandparents came from Vietnam. The treatment that the Japanese received made me think what if it had been my family that this happened to? How would that have effected my life growing up? It makes me wonder if I would have been silent like Obasan and Naomi or have spoken out like Aunt Emily. There are so many questions that run through my mind when I think about if the same thing had happened to Vietnamese people.
Many people come to Canada so that they can live better lives. Canada is usually seen as a country that is multicultural, diverse, and accepting of other cultures. However, the reason that people see Canada that way is because that is how we remember our national memory. For years we have been trying to forget the cruel things that have happened in the past instead of remembering them. Finally now we are beginning to realize that in order to move on we cannot just forget. We must remember and learn from what has happened and try to mend the relationships that have been destroyed.