ISCORE

I attended Iowa State’s Conference On Race and Ethnicity this past Friday.  The conference was rather interesting.  The first session I attended was the luncheon and the keynote speaker, Grace Amemiya.  Grace’s story was truly inspiring.  At age 91, she stood in front of a large crowd and told her story of internment during World War II.  Grace’s message was to always forgive.  Although Grace and her family, along with many other innocent Japanese American families, were falsely imprisoned, she still somehow is able to look at such a tragedy in a positive way.  Her willingness to forgive and ability to put an optimistic spin on the horrible treatment she and her family endured is admirable. 

Grace talked about the troubles many Asians faced in the 1940’s all do to their race.  While the internment of the Japanese happened almost 70 years ago, we still face many issues with race today.  Grace believes that everyone is entitled to their opinion and beliefs, but wishes for everyone to be able to bury the hatchet and make a fresh start when awful things happen. 

As a white American, I do believe that white privilege is a real thing, and I am also able to see the devastating effects of discrimination.  Problems and tragedies of race and ethnicity stretch the entire globe, still today.  It is realistic to say that we will never reach a point of complete peace and harmony between all races, however it would make quite the impact if everyone were a bit more like Grace—forgiving all.  Graces speech was not just about forgiving in regards to race, but in every aspect of life.  It is a quality to look up to and for everyone to work on.  As Gandhi once said, the weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”