What would you say when I ask you to describe the world today?

Perhaps you’d talk about the increasingly modern and advanced society that we live in, constantly developing new technology and innovations. Or maybe you’d talk about an increasingly tense society, as our world is plagued with political tensions between nations.

I would’ve given you this response a year ago: “I see a world that is becoming increasingly violent, a world that is being overtaken by hatred, and a world that is losing humanity.”

Today, I give you this response: “I picture a world filled with hope.”

I have always been proud to be American. Being American meant that I had certain, “unalienable” rights, such as the freedoms of speech and the press. And when I was younger, I thought everyone owned those rights and had always owned them. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Freedom is not guaranteed and has never been. There have been people who did not reap the benefits of our free nation. There have been people who did not have basic human rights. 

I constantly get asked, as a Black person, how non-Black Japanese Americans can support Black people and how to actually take action in dismantling anti-Blackness within our own community.

What does community service mean to you?

A reflection from a participant of the high-school program.

This year, I found a little extra in brave space…

It did not matter if I was a hapa Chinese American. Being ethnically Japanese was not important.

“I’m proud to represent, period.”

NCI Intern to artist

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