Densho Digital Repository - The Kurose Family Interview (Densho ID: ddr-sjacl-2-42-5)

<Begin Segment 5>

EK: And Mika, this question is geared towards you now. And I formed this question considering, I guess focusing on how everything is playing out regarding the education system right now and the idea of, like, critical race theory and how schools across the nation, some schools are really against teaching social justice values towards younger individuals. And so I guess as part of the younger generation of activists, why do you find it so important to get involved in civil rights and social change work at a young age and what's something you would want to encourage the younger generation and even any generation to know about working within politics and justice?

MR: That's a really, really good question. And I guess I'll start with a very basic concept, which is, progress requires people pushing for it, right? And it doesn't just happen without any action. And if you look at the history of social movements in our country, most notably the Civil Rights Movement, it was young people who were really driving the movement and pushing for the change. I mean if you look at the Freedom Summer, when you had young people in high school from all over the country descending on the South to protest for voting rights for Black Americans, they were all in their, like, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, very young. the people who are trying to desegregate lunch counters were all college students and high school students. And I think they had... I'd have to imagine that young people are able to very clearly see how things should be. And what's important is that young people are afforded the opportunity to sort of agitate and persevere and push for the type of future that they know are, they know our country and society can achieve.

And so I guess... I think the danger of the anti-critical race theory movement is, number one, I think this is obvious to everyone who pays attention and sort of comes from a rational perspective, but critical race theory is this very intellectual, like, legal concept that is actually being perverted into this idea that it's like corrupting young children. And it's also, the other problem is that those who do not want us to understand this country's history of racial and social oppression, will use fear to sort of convince people that any learning about our history of racism and oppression in this country is detrimental to the well-being of young people. And I think everyone, we all on this Zoom certainly would agree that in order to progress as a country and society and community, we have to know our past, right, we have to have a full reckoning of what happened. Otherwise, there's no way that we can even begin to make any progress. And so I just think, for me, personally, the people who I look up to are those who are always focused on the truth, and always focused on uncovering and revealing our past transgressions as a country. So that A) we can make sure that things like that don't happen again, and B) continue to educate people because that's why I think education is so important, and teachers like Uncle Paul are so important. Because without that fundamental basic understanding of our history and where we come from, there's no way that we can even begin to hope for a better future. So that's my long ramble.

EK: Thank you. It was definitely a dense question and you hit every point, so thank you so much. Yeah, I was just... I know, as part of, I would say, the younger generation of activists, I just, I guess, wanted to hear from a point of view from an individual like you who's also done a lot within social justice as well. So thank you.