Buraku Liberation News, July 1997 issue (N0.97)

Essay by youth

Korea in me
In reaction to being discriminated against

By Ms F. S.
I High School

About my grandfather
My grandfather was a Korean. I have been aware that I have Korean blood in me since I became old enough to understand things. We had Kimchi and Namul, typical Korean dishes, and Chimajugori, traditional dress for Korean women, at home since my childhood. I did not know that we were discriminated against due to the presence of those things.

I really respected my grandfather and was proud of him because I was his favorite grandchild. One day my elementary school teacher instructed me to ask him about his background. I said to him, "Grandpa, why did you come to Japan?" When my grandmother was about to answer my question, he shouted for the first time in front of me, "You need not talk about such a story."

According to my grandmother who later explained to me a little bit, he was forced to get on a ship bound for Japan due to World WarU, and had not met his relatives for 40 years. He has not received any pension from the Japanese government for wounds to his hand he suffered as a Japanese military personnel during the war.

Although I could not understand why my grandfather got angry at that time, I came to know little by little the reason by my learning about society. However, he passed away when I understood that. I regret not to have asked him to tell me many stories.

I was discriminated against when I was a tenth grader.

There was a time when the facts that I am of Buraku origin and have a Korean grandfather weighed heavily on me. After I happened to tell one of my friends that my grandfather was a Korean, I was discriminated against by her. She told another friend that she did not want to go around with Korean classmates like me and that I might come from a Buraku area. The friend, whose mother was a Chinese, listened to that without any refutation and later decided to inform me because she thought it's better to tell me.

When I was informed of it, I couldn't hold back my tears. I also felt much frustration and anger. I later had a dialogue with the friend who made the discriminatory remark against me. After that, I became afraid of all the facts that I belong to both Buraku people and Korean nationals, and that my younger sister has a disabled eye.

At present, I decided to tell anybody that I am a member of the Buraku Liberation Research Circle at high school and I come from a Buraku area. Although I worried a lot over the discriminatory remark in the past, I find myself to have become stronger through the experience.

When I was a twelfth grader, I heard about a discriminatory remark made by a tenth grader.

I did not hear about any discriminatory incidents at our high school in those days. However, I heard about a discriminatory remark made by a tenth grader who said Chonko, a derogatory term to refer to Koreans, and Chosen(Korea) in making a fool of someone else.