As I lay here, in an uncomfortable bed, I look back on my life, one time in my life stands out in particular.
~~~~~~~~~
I hear the loud, rusty gate of the internment camp close behind me as I walk away. I'm leaving behind my brother, the smelly horse stall that I once called my bed and I'm leaving behind all the memories of being taken away from my and my life just because of some racist accusations made against me because of my Japanese heritage.
I'm heading to New York to find an apartment to live in so I can start my new job, drawing pictures for a magazine.
I arrive at the first apartment on my itinerary. I walk up to the door of the building to go see the realtor, but something catches the corner of my eye. I see a sign to the right of the door that says, "No Japanese of ny kind allowed in the apartment building."
I immediately start to get angry, I thought this was going to be easier than it is. The first time I try to do something crucial to my life after leaving that camp, I get rejected and people are still racist against me.
I'm standing in the pouring rain trying to figure out a way to get to the next apartment that is 3 miles away. I decide that maybe I should give riding in a taxi a chance.
After waiting for 10 minutes for a taxi to drive by, I'm starting to give up. But right as I'm about to call it quits, I see a taxi coming into view.
I wave my hands back and forth, yelling, "Over here, over here!"
The taxi driver starts to slow down, but when he looks at me he laughs, and starts to drive away. I start to run after the taxi, tears running down my
~~~~~~~~~~
I'm walking to work while the sun is rising, the next day. I'm less than a quarter of a mile away from work when I start to hear shouting and protesting.
I immediately think to myself, 'This can't be good.'
As I get closer the shouting starts to get louder. When the protesters see me they start to walk towards me.
They're shouting in my face, "Make her leave," "You don't deserve to be here!"
That's when I see their signs that say, " Japs shouldn't be allowed to work."
This immediately makes me want to cry. But I know that I can't let them have the satisfaction of seeing me cry because that's what they want. They want to upset me. They want to see me cry.
I look up up when I hear the door of the office building open and then close. My boss is standing in front of the door with an angry expression on his face.
"Leave right now!" he yells. "Leave my worker alone, she did nothing to you. Leave right now before I have you all arrested."
"Thank you so much," I say, after everyone leaves. "You have no idea how much that meant to me."
~~~~~~~~~~
This moment was the moment in my life that changed my perspective on the world forever. I finally realized that even though people try to bring you down, you have to listen to the people in your life that make you feel good about yourself and that will stick up for you. These people are the ones that will make you feel noticed in this world.
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Her last words were, "I was visible again."
