No Longer Clueless

One of the greatest and most painful experiences of my life has been to repeatedly discover huge pieces of the world that I had no idea even existed!

My jigsaw puzzle of experiences is an incomplete picture.

This was never more apparent to me than while on the Asian American Civil Rights Tour in California with Andrew Kim, Justin Warns and other beloved Kensington friends in 2022.

I am not proud that the first time I was informed the U.S. had an Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I rolled my eyes and thought, “Another heritage month?”

It is safe to say that prior to this trip I was absolutely clueless.

I had no idea that the Los Angeles riots of 1992 were almost completely centered in Koreatown and that the police left Korean business owners on their own to try and save their property and livelihood.

I had no idea that the all-Japanese American 442 Regiment was the most decorated military unit in U.S. history!

I had no idea that Chinese people had been prohibited from owning property due to the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act which was not fully repealed until 1965!

JAPANESE AMERICANS & WWII

During our team’s visit to the Japanese American National Museum in the Little Tokyo district of downtown LA, my mind kept expanding and my heart kept breaking.

It was here that I really grasped the story of Asian Americans. I could imagine the brave Japanese-American soldiers who fought in World War II while their families were imprisoned on U.S. soil in detention camps.

The 442 Infantry Regiment won over 4,000 Purple Hearts, 4,000 Bronze Stars, and 21 Medals of Honor; their motto “Go For Broke” showed their unparalleled bravery and commitment – a commitment to their country even while their business was lost, their homes were taken, and their families imprisoned in detention camps.

I was so hurt that I was never taught this in my American history classes!

From LA, we traveled to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in the desert below the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It was the first of 10 detention centers for the 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII.

Manzanar held 11,000 prisoners and another painful discovery for me: documentation surfaced years after WWII, that showed our government had analyzed and assessed and found these Japanese-Americans to be no threat to National Security and yet they were still imprisoned.

At the end of the war, many were afraid to leave the prison camps because of possible retribution from other angry Americans. All camps were eventually emptied, and each person received:

• a one-way train ticket to the place of their choosing
• $50 dollars

Prison guards pressured them NOT to return to their homes of origin and many never returned to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.

In 1988, President Reagan recognized the injustice of the internment camps; you can read about it in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

CHINESE AMERICANS & INJUSTICE

On the last leg of our trip, we were deeply inspired by Chinese American Christian leaders who courageously fought for adequate housing – and even garbage removal – in Chinatown which the city of LA refused for years.

Consider the impact of having the city remove the garbage of other neighborhoods, yet refusing to remove yours?!

And I was shocked to learn more of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – which lasted until 1943, and wasn’t fully kicked to the curb until 1965!

Google it and you’ll find this:

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 made it nearly impossible for Chinese immigrants to become citizens … Many states passed alien land laws that restricted land ownership by “aliens ineligible for citizenship,” effectively targeting Chinese and later Japanese immigrants. These laws created a hostile environment for Chinese immigrants to establish homes and businesses.

THE ELLIS ISLAND OF THE WEST

Angel Island, right next to Alcatraz, was the last place to broaden my world.

Since my return from this trip, I have quizzed a few hundred friends about their knowledge of Angel Island and nearly no one has heard of it.

Angel Island, essentially the western version of Ellis Island, was the gate of entry for those who crossed the Pacific instead of the Atlantic.

Just like the European immigrants, the Asian immigrants came a great distance to find a better life in the United States of America, but most often found themselves imprisoned on Angel Island for many years.

STEVE ANDREWS IS DIFFERENT NOW

I am no longer clueless.

I cannot fully describe how powerful and challenging it is for me to have the world open up by learning what I did not know. And how beautiful it is to see people live with courage and honor in the face of injustice.

As a follower of Jesus, I want to keep learning, I want to be inspired by a deeper understanding of my fellow image-bearers.

Most of all, I want to say to all of us, it’s never too late to learn about the uncomfortable parts of our history. We have to hold up the good and the bad in the light and not pretend that one exists without the other.

All you have to do is look at Jesus: feel the tension of His love for us and His challenge to love others – all the “others” – above ourselves.