Published in Thrive Global – May 11th, 2020

Reconnecting with What It Means to Be Human

When COVID-19 hit and we were isolated from loved ones, I called my mother to see if she was all right. She indicated she’d been through isolation before and in worst times.

Several years ago, I found myself at a family reunion in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. My mother’s family wanted to see the American concentration camps where her family and relatives lived during World War II. Although very young at the time, her memory was crystal clear. As we walked through the museum, she pointed at photos and belongings, people donated. Stepping into a so-called replica of the barracks, she scoffed. “I wish it was as nice as this!” She talked about how the frigid wind blew dirt through the open spaces in the barrack walls and how a pot belly stove was the only warmth they felt.

As I listen to her stories, it saddened and angered me. My grandparents who owned a grocery store in Los Angeles were good law-abiding citizens who worked hard. They, like so many of Japanese heritage were stripped of what they owned; separated and isolated from their communities because of their race; then put behind barbed wire fences with armed guard towers as many Japanese American sons volunteered to fight and prove their family’s loyalty to a country that imprisoned their parents.