Densho Digital Repository - Chisao Hata Interview

Densho Digital Repository
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Chisao Hata Interview
Narrator: Chisao Hata
Interviewer: Barbara Yasui
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: March 20, 2023
Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-532-5

<Begin Segment 5>

BY: And so growing up as a Japanese American girl, teenager, in Des Moines, Iowa, did you have any Asian American role models?

CH: My mom.

BY: Okay.

CH: And my dad, but not, no teachers, no art teachers, theater people.

BY: And so you said that you sort of first became aware of your Japanese identity when you were in second grade, with the teacher calling you a "Jap."

CH: Yeah, that was my Bluebird leader. [Laughs]

BY: Oh, your Bluebird leader, oh my gosh, okay. And so how did you feel about being Japanese or Japanese American after that? Did you think about it at all?

CH: I don't think so. I think I always wanted to be like everybody else, you know. I always saw myself as being like everybody else.

BY: And by that do you mean white?

CH: White, I mean white, yeah. Like I didn't see myself as any different. My parents would say everyone is equal, everyone is the same, that's kind of how they raised me. But I wasn't really questioning my identity at that point, it wasn't until high school I started. But it came out in weird ways. You know, like I'd feel, try to do something about my eyes or I can remember one time I put shoe polish on my hair to try to change my hair color and things like that that definitely have to do with not feeling good about yourself.

BY: And you said that things changed in high school. How so?

CH: By the time I got to high school, I was one of the popular girls with the other girls in cheerleading and different things. But then I started to like African American, and I didn't see it as anything different. But then my friends taught me that it was very different.

BY: Your white friends?

CH: Yeah, uh-huh. And really cut off the friendships, and you know how high school students can be so mean.

BY: And so that was the kind of awakening for you at that point?

CH: Uh-huh, yeah. I never had a lot of, lot of friends, really had a few loyal friends that I felt were loyal. But then when some of those weren't, or they became not friends anymore, it was very confusing to me, very hurtful.