Series: Hemi & Pona discuss Asian Americans on PBS.
This series is a recorded conversation between two friends learning the history that we were never taught.
Welcome to Episode 2 of Hemi & Pona discuss Asian Americans on PBS.
For a rationale on why we are doing this, see previous episodes.
The internment of Japanese Americans was definitely not new to me before watching this episode, but it is always good to see it from other angles. It really shows how in-dept Asian American history is, and how much of a shame it isn’t more widely taught. There are a multitude of stories out there. It would take lifetimes to tell them all, and they definitely all wouldn’t fit into a textbook.
The way that this horrible moment in history was portrayed in the documentary really brought to life the complexities of the human experience. That’s why it’s important that we hear stories from different perspectives, even if they’re about the same event. That’s why it’s important that Asian American representation isn’t limited to a handful of stories, since there is no way that a handful of stories could represent the entire population of Asian Americans.
Though we often learn about the history of an event through a general retelling of what happened, it was really cool to focus on the Uno family and their unique experiences. It was like putting a zoom magnifying glass on an old black and white photo and having it transform into living, breathing, color.
This episode was recorded in November 2022.
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