Defining my experience of having practically wasted the best
adult years of my life being harassed, maligned, targeted and
abused by status quo systems of power that denied me the
right to self-autonomy, belief and personal happiness involves
seeing myself in context of America's evolving identity.
Growing up American of Japanese descent in Hawaii in the
60's and 70's left a deep imprint that most of America was not
accessible to me. Or if it were accessible, severe limitations
would be present due to race and class barriers. How and
where to participate on any and all levels included only a few
places on the West Coast and possibly urban areas in other
parts of America.
A personal acquaintance of mine who grew up white in a poor
black neighborhood in California for part of her life made note
of how people in Hawaii refer to the continental United States
as "the Mainland". She was amazed that even in our use of
language we separated ourselves in Hawaii from the rest of
America's land mass.
I know Texans who feel that California ain't accessible to them
either, nor is any part of Massachusetts. Belonging in America
is elusive for more than the dividing issues of regionalism, race
and class. It could be that a larger dialogue is missing from our
leaders and institutions.
No, now is not the time to make reference to Joseph Campbell
and his series of lectures about the absence of a common myth
in America. My point about my own experience is to say that
it was in the context of being amongst "my own type" of people
that the worst abuses took place in Hawaii.
Abuse of power in my case defies the notion that all those of
Japanese American descent stand together for their own sake.
Likewise with blacks in Obama's case.
In today's Information Age borderless reality, America's own
might in terms of economic/military domination is questioned.
America is being defined by Information systems. 9-11 was
an attack on America as a result of our information systems
having failed to serve its purpose to some degree.
As a victim of the Information Age, where wire terror, stalking
and surveillance systems served to violate and destroy rather
than serve the purpose of the public, I can prove that there is
a way that Information systems have served my purpose of
making my messages,beliefs and identity known.
My story is both personal and political, relevant to this time
of evolving identity for this country. It was and is a symptom
of a larger problem, a symptom of the evolution of Hawaii's
systems. Humans matter in the Information Age, yet human
needs have been neglected because more information has not
provided the means for more dialogue about a deep primary
need for national belonging.
How I've made it through the ordeal of choosing a stance of
conscience against many of my former personal acquaintances,
against historical and cultural relations, and against most of
we know as class privilege bias will define my identity as an
American.
I feel closer to being American for having participated, not
less American. I reject the failure of leaders and officials in
defense of what I know is possible in my situation.
My need to find like-minded souls is greater than my need
to find those who share the same blood and ethnic lineage. In
this respect, I am apart from those who believe it is necessary
to build race-based political movements.
No, I don't need to go to Japan to find my roots. No, I don't
need to correct every inequity because I am constantly taken
as an adversary to the American auto industry or as those who
ran Hawaii's sinister system of exclusivity. I am not them,
yet it is necessary to declare my story a means for furthering
the dialogue of who "Americans" are in today's world.
