Introduction
My name is Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi. I was born in Seattle, Washington on April 23, 1918. Both of my parents were Japanese and Christians. Religion and spirituality played a key role in my years growing up as I started to think of what spiritual beliefs I wanted to follow. I eventually became a Quaker the year I entered college at the University of Washington. I was a senior at age 24 when the evacuation of the people of Japanese ancestry was called for. I was smart enough to see the injustice and unconstitutionality behind it. I knew that as a person of Japanese decent, I was a secondary citizen, but as I see myself as a man of principal, I refuse to accept such standards. I will not accept that position in society solely based on the fact that I am Japanese. This injustice is what sparked the idea for resistance. The date was on May 4, 1942 when my whole resistance began. On this day, I started ignoring the curfew set upon us (be at home by 8pm) and I didn't stop there. I was not going to go to the camps with everyone else for it went against my religious beliefs and my belief in the U.S. Constitution. Instead, a couple days after I started resisting, I said goodbye to my family and turned myself into the FBI. There, I voiced my intent to go against the exclusion order. Then, to be expected, I was arrested and put into jail. I was convicted with the violation of both the curfew and the exclusion order. Although being arrested and put into jail is a rough task to go through, to me my efforts were worth it. I truly believe that my resistance gave those who had to be confined in interment camps hope. They didn't know what was going to happen to them or how long they would be interned. They had lost everything and I gave them hope that they would regain their freedom. I gave them psychological and emotional strength. I gave them the will power to deal with the struggles of internment. I showed them that people were fighting for them and their rights and that's something I can truly be proud of myself for.
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