Too Young to Understand Lessons on Racism?
A children’s book about baseball in an internment camp strikes out with some parents because of its use of a racial slur.
From cover to cover, “Baseball Saved Us,” a children’s book about the World War II internment, seeks to teach its intended young readers about tolerance. “The government thinks that Japanese Americans can’t be trusted,” said the father, a pensively illustrated character, on the first page looking past the barbwire fence. “But it’s wrong that we’re in here. We’re Americans too!”
Dark colored illustrations depict camp life and the creation of a baseball field in the desert where young Shorty struggles with the nickname “Easy out.” But it’s the name he gets called back home after the war that has some real-life parents in New Milford, Connecticut requesting the removal of the book from the school district’s reading list.
“The Jap’s no good!” cried the jeering crowd. Trudging to the plate, Shorty stepped into the swing and hit the word — and his self-doubt — into the puffy clouds.
Parents of a student, last month, requested the Board of Education review the award-winning book, which is on the district’s second grade reading list, questioning the appropriateness of the use of an ethnic slur in lessons to second grade children.
“Any ethnic slur should not be introduced at the elementary level, period,” wrote Peter O’Brien in a letter to board members. He said the book should instead be used with curriculum for older students, according to the News Times.
There are channels in which parents can request board members to review books approved for instruction, and a review date — already postponed once — will be set before the next school year, said Tom Mulvihill, New Milford schools assistant superintendent.
The debate has left the book’s author Ken Mochizuki a little perplexed. The Seattle native whose family was interned at Minidoka penned the book more than a decade ago based on true experiences of his family members along with many other JAs who suffered through wartime prejudice.
“It struck me as odd. This book has been on the bookshelf 13 years now, and I’m hearing about it now?” said Mochizuki, 52.
When he was writing the book, he didn’t take using “the word” lightly.
“I was kind of leery about it. It’s for children after all.”
Of course more general terms could have been used, but ultimately Mochizuki and his publisher thought it was appropriate to use the word to convey the pain of what the character was going through. It’s all about context, he said.
Mochizuki often speaks to students at schools about prejudice. He explains the J-word was used during World War II as a shortened way to say Japanese, but in a derogatory way. He writes the word in bold letters and beams it to them through an overhead projector. Then he draws a fat line through it. Nowadays, it’s inappropriate and hurtful, Mochizuki would explain.
“Parents have every right to be concerned with what their child sees and hears,” said the author and staff writer of Seattle’s International Examiner. But he hopes parents would also be concerned with WWII movies or television shows that use the word without the proper context.
For the most part, the New Milford Board of Education supports the book as part of its curriculum.
“The lessons the book teaches young children about tolerance and hurtful comments are dramatically presented. If used properly, with the teacher pointing out the historic context of the events in the book, which includes that the government later apologized for its decision to intern the Japanese in America, the lessons about treating others with kindness and tolerance as individuals can become much more palpable,” said Mulvihill, who also said the book would be too easy for their students after the third grade.
“The book itself is fine. However, the parents raise questions worthy of the board’s discussion. Is use of it in second grade too soon? If not second grade, then when?” he added.
The use of racial epithets in literature has long been a source of debate between parents and school administrators. New Milford received similar complaints about the portrayal of African Americans in “Huckleberry Finn.”
As a teacher of literature at the university level, John Tateishi used books like “The Sound and the Fury” with racially offensive words to “reflect a degree of historical context,” but as the JACL’s executive director he wants the word to disappear from the English lexicon.
“When it comes to the use of racial epithets in literature for young children, I think one has to be very careful to ensure that children understand clearly why those words are harmful and offensive and reflect more poorly on the user than on the object of his or her derision,” he said. “In the context of Mochizuki’s book where the J-word is used, I can see why he uses it because too often that was how other kids taunted us. Going to the plate wasn’t always the joy it should have been.”
The O’Briens have a legitimate point according to the parameters of the First Amendment, which the courts use to define some racial slurs as “fighting words.” But there is a difference between someone using the J-word to demean and using it to depict how life was for JAs, said Tateishi.
“The point of its use in that moment of the book, however, is that the J-word is hurtful and bad. And therein lies the value of the book, the lessons it teaches children about the fact that innocent children like them were imprisoned and attitudes expressed in the J-word put them there,” he added.
Derogatory terms are commonly used in society much to our chagrin, said Mulvihill. “Perhaps it is better to use the term in a context such as this saying (and showing through the story) that it is wrong and hurtful to use such terms. Young children understand such a message.”
Although the J-word has gradually faded from daily use and many English dictionaries identify it as derogatory, remnants of the past occasionally surface in the street signs and media banter.
At large, the use of the J-word has created much debate even within the JA community. This month at the JACL national convention in Arizona, the national council will consider a resolution to define and maintain a policy on the use of racial epithets.
Print This Article-
Email This Article