DO JUSTICE

This May, as we’ve celebrated Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, Calvary’s Racial Justice team wanted to check in with one of our Calvary families about their connection to this important celebration!

Anne and Eric Kuwahara were married for fifty years before he passed in 2022. Throughout their marriage, raising kids, and movingn across the country for work, the Kuwaharas made many meaningful memories and relationships and continued to face racism because of Eric’s Japanese heritage.

As Rev. Ashley interviewed Anne about Eric’s family and history, Anne recalled stories of Eric’s father and uncle enlisting in WWII with the 442nd, company D and being sent to Arkansas to be trained for war. The government gave their family a choice: enlist or be put in an internment camp.

While in the war, Eric’s uncle was lost in combat and his dad came home with multiple honors including a purple heart, congressional medal and two bronze stars. He battled issues with his hands the rest of his life because of the shrapnel still in his body after the war.

The 442nd is one of WWII’s most decorated group of soldiers, because they were “sent on suicide missions, on rescue missions to get other troops,” Anne explained, “Because they were all Japanese, they were thought of as expendable.”

Anne has many stories to tell and reminds all of us Kansans that this time in our history is still a part of us—even we had internment camps for college students here in our state.

When Eric was a child, his family moved all four of their children from Hawaii to the mainland for job and educational opportunities. His parents wanted their children to learn proper English. It’s when the came to the “48 states” that Eric experienced racism for the first time. He and his siblings were taught when they heard hateful comments about themselves to: “Keep your mouth shut, your hands in your pockets, and look out for your siblings”

After school and being in the service, Eric landed in Wichita, interviewing to be a CPA in 1975. When he walked in for his first interview, he was told before he could even sit down, “Your people killed my son. I won’t hire any Japanese.”

When Rev. Ashley asked Anne about how times have changed since 1975, Anne recalled stories of Asian Men and Women being victims of violence following the Vietnam War. She shared about the COVID-19 pandemic and the incredible hate they heard that reminded Eric of what his family experienced after WWII. Anne shared that while living in Texas, less than a decade ago, there were communities that she and Eric knew they were unsafe in because they were a mixed race couple.

Anne has some wisdom for us as we continue to address racism in ourselves, our community, our systems and the world:

“We have lots of Asian Americans living here in Wichita and they are still running into the same hate and it’s too bad. If you don’t like someone because their eyes are slanted, who else do you hate because of their skin, or their traditions? If you do it to one, you do it to all.”

Thank you, Anne, for sharing your family's story and reminding us why celebrations like AAPI heritage month matter!