manzanar poem # 3
when springfield-born kazuko golden
recently showed her film on american
concentration camp manzanar the
audience discussion that followed
moved into racial stereotyping kazuko
told us growing up she’d often been
asked – or informed – that she was
oriental – chinese, japanese – “in truth,”
she said, “I’m half japanese ancestry half
european; my dad’s mom and grandparents
came from europe but no one ever said to me
‘oh how russian, dutch, or polish you look!’”
Kazuko Golden’s film is going to be
shown in Springfield on Mar. 11.
©2018 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Feb 1-7, 2018.
