by Kathryn Kempf

Personal Reflection

“Miscegenation laws were revoked in 1967” (Loving vs. Virginia) . I was shocked when I heard this in class. I never knew interracial marriages were actually outlawed in the United States. I suddenly realized that in a difference of only four years, my parent’s marriage would have been illegal; or even impossible. My mother, born, raised and educated in Japan married my American father in 1971. They lived in California for a few months then moved to Chicago in 1972. I was born seven years later in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Race and ethnicity are things I’ve always been aware of but never controlled by. I have never been the victim of physical or emotional racial discrimination. Of course I received occasional childhood taunting; “Chinese, Japanese, look at these, dirty knees.” But I never felt ostracized from the mainstream despite spending my elementary school years in a predominately white, Western Maryland town. Only when I got to high school and college did I realize what an issue race really was. In 1991, my family moved to a suburb of Washington DC where my brother and I finished high school. It was the first time I was exposed to racial diversity outside my own family. Living in a multi-racial environment helped shape my perspective on people and society.

This year, three fellow Dartmouth students, with whom I went on the Dartmouth Foreign Studies Program to Japan, (Summer 1998) began an on-campus group called MOSAIC. MOSAIC was created to discuss issues for Bi-racial, Multi-cultural, Multi-ethnic people. One girl, who is also half-Japanese, struggled through adolescence with her dual identity. She has often asked me why I felt that I didn’t face some of those problems. I recently spoke to my parents about it and I believe my ‘easy’ life is related to the few problems my parents faced as an interracial couple.

I recently asked my parents exactly where were they during all the Movements of the 60s and 70s. My father grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois, a small midwestern farming town. He went to Princeton, as a quiet, small town, middle American boy. He said that although he witnessed protests and demonstrations, such as the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1967, he was an observer and not an activist. He joined the Air Force but never had to serve in Vietnam. He went to Japan for a tour of duty in 1969 and became reacquainted with my mother who had also lived in Crystal Lake for a year on a high school foreign exchange program. In the years since she had returned to Japan she got a degree at The International Christian University in Tokyo. She became one of the first Japanese women to serve in the foreign ministry and had lived in Europe and Latin America. Although not a common occurrence for a Japanese woman, marrying my Father and moving to America was not something my Mother had much trepidation about. She was fluent in English, she was college educated and experienced in living abroad.

The height of the Civil Rights Movement was over when my Mother decided to come to America. Although the Asian American Movement was getting underway she said she did not become actively involved. My Mother is still living in America with a Visa. She decided not to become a citizen because at that time, if she had to go back to Japan for an emergency, the immigration processes would have taken too long. When they moved to Chicago, both my Father and Mother worked on graduate degrees at Northwestern University. My Mother was able to get a job at the Bank of Chicago. Her female co-workers were always friendly and supportive, encouraging her to succeed. She believes that because of her language ability and educational aspirations she earned the respect of her peers and therefore had an advantage over other Asian Americans. In Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots by Nancy Abelman and John Lei, Korean Americans were documented in saying one of the great obstacles they faced was the language barrier.

Although I was slightly disappointed to hear my parents passive reactions to the movements of the 60s and 70s I understand that it was not because they did not care but because it is their nature. They supported the movements and fundamentally believed in the causes but they are not radicals now and they weren’t radicals then. My parents said they never made an issue of their interracial marriage and they don’t recall anyone else having a problem with it either. I believe my acceptance of diversity as well as my own racial background is facilitated by the normalcy with which I’ve always received it. I am, however, extremely grateful to and admire those who fought for my present day privileges and acceptance.

Recommended Sources

Maria Root, Racially Mixed People in America, (Newberry Park: SagePublications, 1992)

Nancy Abelmann and John Lie, Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995)