False Narratives

https://musiciselementary.com/2024/03/07/0qyabqfz1m When I was in elementary school, my family hosted an exchange student from Japan. Her name was Yoshimi. We were already a family of eleven, so I suppose my parents figured what’s one more?

https://www.mominleggings.com/e4d4a3a About a month before her arrival, I saw a scene in some movie while at a friend’s house that slithered into my young, impressionable brain like a snake. It involved a Japanese college girl viciously attacking a Caucasian girl from behind while she was jogging on campus.

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https://fotballsonen.com/2024/03/07/vapzhcfg Photo by Aleyna Rentz on Unsplash

https://www.lcclub.co.uk/tkogi59dkf At the time, my family lived on a small lake on the outskirts of town. I doubt I had much—if any—other experience with Japanese people. So for the next few days and weeks, in anticipation of Yoshimi’s arrival, I was silently terrified. I would lie awake at night thinking up all kinds of worse case scenarios. I became convinced Yoshimi was going to hurt me, my parents, or siblings like the mean Japanese girl in the movie.

https://www.jamesramsden.com/2024/03/07/8qc2bm1 I didn’t have the critical thinking skills yet to put it into perspective. That one fictional storyline is all it took to plant a harsh preconception in my brain. 

https://wasmorg.com/2024/03/07/2oqqgxufo As it turns out, of course, Yoshimi was a lovely and kind girl (and brave for moving in with our mass, motley crew!). I can still clearly picture her in a beautiful red and blue kimono she’d brought with her. She even let me try it on.

http://countocram.com/2024/03/07/k2x4c8j She also brought us presents! Lovely little gifts including chopsticks, coin purses, and folding fans with intricate designs of cherry blossoms, bamboo, and pine. Oh, I loved those fans! And I remember sitting around the table with my sisters as she taught us how to make origami boats, swans, and teacups out of shiny, colorful square papers.

https://elisabethbell.com/i8an3lthdb Thanks to a real-life relationship, my distorted fear about a particular ethnic group evaporated.

https://www.worldhumorawards.org/uncategorized/unmlteaqvf But what if that fear had never been counter-balanced? What if it had gone unchallenged? What if it had been fed with another false narrative? And another?

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https://www.goedkoopvliegen.nl/uncategorized/pw5bqw2wtzx Memories of Yoshimi and those early fears came flooding back to me recently while working on a story called “Without Due Process” in Edina Magazine. It’s based on an interview I had with a persevering and gracious Japanese American woman named Sally Sudo.

Purchase Tramadol Uk After Japanese planes bombed the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941—Sally, who was six-years-old—was forced out of her home by the U.S. Government and into a desolate Japanese American internment camp. So were her parents, nine siblings, and 120,000 other citizens living on the West Coast who had even as little as one-sixteenth Japanese heritage in them.

https://giannifava.org/97j79o9 As hard as it is to believe, there was widespread public approval for this mass incarceration. Why? Because of distorted fear and paranoia. Propaganda warned that anyone who looked like the enemy might be spies and compared them to monkeys and even rats.

Tramadol Online Overnight Mastercard Sally—now a grandma, retired teacher, and former Chair of the Japanese American Citizens League—is on a mission to help others realize how easy it is for public opinion to be swayed through false narratives. No matter what the topic, no matter which side of the fence, she’s encouraging people to stay on guard, stand up for injustice, and pause to ask important questions, such as Where did this originate from? What is the evidence supporting it?

Order Tramadol Online Mastercard I invite you to read my full story of Sally Sudo in the November issue of Edina Magazine here.

https://worthcompare.com/he8824zm I’m Julie Jo Severson, mom to three teens, freelance writer, editor, and co-author of HERE IN THE MIDDLE: Stories of Love, Loss, and Connection from the Ones Sandwiched in Between. 

This blog, Carvings on a Desk, is where I reconnect with my own voice swirling around in the middle. Read other recent stories.

https://asperformance.com/uncategorized/jis02llxq Subscribe and receive the occasional stories in your inbox.

https://tankinz.com/dw55tl5al20  

 

About Julie Jo Severson

Julie Jo Severson, former PR girl, is now a freelance writer, journalist, editor, and lost-and-found attendant for two teens and a tween. This is where she doodles about past, present, future clinking glasses and making peace.

11 comments on “False Narratives

  1. It breaks my heart to think of the false narratives that lead to such gross cruelties. And yet they happen around us even at this moment. If awareness is the first step, then we’ve taken it. Now we need to move forward with what we know!
    Thank you for this, Julie Jo!

  2. https://fotballsonen.com/2024/03/07/dbxc9lp2 Julie, first of all your story is so incredible and your message SO RELEVANT for these times! What a profound lesson we can all learn in false narratives.

    https://elisabethbell.com/0cf1oow5xwx And my gosh, I had NO IDEA our Government did this to those poor INNOCENT Japanese AMERICANS. And we approved of this mass incarceration? WOW. There are so many historic movements that reflect such atrocities and I pray we learn from them. We are living in such traumatic times and I fear we are never going to learn!

    https://www.goedkoopvliegen.nl/uncategorized/xs6clefx97f THANK YOU for raising awareness through both your personal story (I still cannot even imagine 11 KIDS IN ONE HOUSE. Your parents are freaking HEROES. lol) and Sally Sudo. What an inspiration she is to use her experience to build and execute a mission of great purpose.

  3. https://www.lcclub.co.uk/sq4faaf5 Julie, I am always so humbled when I read your stories and so appreciate your ability to capture tidbits of memories from our youth that would otherwise so easily disappear. It is also fascinating, as a mother, to understand through your writing and my obvious relation as your sister just older to realize how different siblings impressions are of the same experiences. It makes me want to dissect my own childrens’ experiences. Thank you for always opening my eyes and piquing my curiosity!
    Love! Amy Claire

  4. Order Tramadol Overnight Mastercard Oh, you must have lots a great deal of sleep prior to her arrival. I can well imagine. My mom majored in Asian Art history when I was little and we had Japanese students come to stay. Their gifts were legendary. Fast forwarding to today, my daughter’s friend curated a show this summer about the folks who were shipped off to Japanese Internment camps on Canada’s west coast. She specifically focussed on what they selected to bring with them. They were allowed one suitcase each. Heartbreaking.

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