“Japanese American, she corrected me. Not Japanese. And Vietnamese American, not Vietnamese. You must claim America, she said. America will not give itself to you. If you do not claim America, if America is not in your heart, America will throw you into a concentration camp or a reservation or a plantation.” AmericaRacismImmigrantsJapaneseVietnameseVietnamese AmericansAsian AmericansJapanese Americans Book:The Sympathizer Source: The Sympathizer
“White people love you, don't they? They only like me. They think I'm a dainty little china doll with bound feet, a geisha who's ready to please. But I don't talk enough for them to love me, or at least I don't talk the right way. I can't put on the whole sukiyaki-and-sayonara show they love, the chopsticks in the hair kind of mumbo jumbo, all that Suzie Wong bullshit, like every white man who comes along is William Holden or Marlon Brando, even if he looks like Mickey Rooney.” RacismStereotypesJapaneseAsiansAsian AmericansJapanese Americans Book:The Sympathizer Source: The Sympathizer
“Takekuma Norman Takei (George Takei's father): America is a strange country... Despite everything, it's still a nation of ideals. Yes, justice here is neither blind nor fair. It only reflects the society. But this is an open society where people who want to can become a part of it. The system here is called participatory democracy, where the important thing is to participate. If people like me aren't willing to take a chance and participate, America stays that much farther from its ideals. My choice is to be in there with good people like Wayne Collins, the lawyer who is helping Mama with her legal battle. My choice is to help America be what it claims it is.” AmericaDemocracyAmerican HistoryJapanese Americans Book:To the Stars Source: To the Stars