It’s almost the end of the semester here at UBC, and my ASTU 100 class has read and discussed the book Obasan by Joy Kogawa. The book discusses Canada’s internment and persecution of Japanese citizens. This, like the hardships experienced by Aboriginals in Canada, is not widely discussed, and surprisingly not known to some Canadians.
On Tuesday, November 15, the class discussed George Takei’s video warning Americans about the potential dangers that come with electing Donald Trump as the President of the United States. Takei discusses the trauma he had to go through as a child when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, and the impact it had on Japanese-Americans. The bombing of Pearl Harbour created a racially motivated fear against Japanese-Americans, in which the United States government forced many Japanese-Americans, internment camps. The government also took away their possessions that they had worked so hard to attain. Takei uses his story to speak to Latinos about voting against Trump, as Trump has made racial allegations about Latinos being rapists, and criminals. He uses his experience to draw similarities between the two events as being propelled by irrational fear, that history has the ability to repeat itself, and if it does the consequences could be dangerous.
Presently, Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States. The United States which holds a great deal of power in international relations is now being run by someone whose opinions can be seen as racist and sexist. Donald Trump calls for the deportation of illegal immigrants, whose viewpoints have already encouraged racist and sexist attitudes within the USA. Middle school children have been recorded chanting “build the wall”, and racist statements about how “black lives don’t matter” have surfaced even before Donald Trump became president. It’s terrifying and saddening to see how children are learning that racism is correct, and how people are starting to believe that it’s acceptable to racially harass others, and completely disregard them as human beings.
I can’t say for certain what Trump’s America will look like, but he hasn’t even been sworn in and already the country sees his figure as a sort of pass that being hateful towards others is acceptable. The United States has been divided for a long time, Donald Trump’s election as the representational figure of the country draws attention as to how corrupt the country really is. Donald Trump is encouraging a racially motivated irrational fear, one which can cause a drastically divided country. History has a long-standing tradition of repeating itself, the consequences experienced in the past have to be taken into consideration when electing someone as the head of the state.