DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
Sara Yuen

My name is Sara Yuen and I am a forensic science major at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. My interest in forensic science started when I got into watching CSI. Yes, I know, what they show is not really what happens in real life. But I have attended programs that got into depth of what forensic scientists really do, even got to work along a scientist, which sparked my interest even more. Within the field of forensic science, I would like to be in the lab and study the DNA that has been collected at the crime scenes.

 

When I am not studying or doing homework to try to get that degree, I am usually enjoying some me-time and watching shows that allow me to relax and distress after a long day of work. Not only do I enjoy watching my TV show, but I love to watch sports like football and basketball.

“My writings generally express my ethnic experiences; my literature and writing courses are taught from a multicultural perspective; and my community activities reflect my human rights interests. With these activities I have been working towards integrating the complex fragments of my life into a profound whole throughout most of my adult life. I have tried to contribute towards making our society a truly multicultural one ...”- Mitsuye Yamada, statement for Amnesty International  

 

You are probably wondering: who is Mitsuye Yamada? Mitsuye Yamada, born in Fukuoka, Japan, moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1926 with her family. Her father worked as an interpreter for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. Mitsuye and her family were taken into Minidoka Relocation Center, an internment camp, located in Idaho. With Mitusye and her brother abandoning their loyalty, Mitusye attended the University of Cincinnati, earned a BA from New York University and an MA from the University of Chicago.

 

Not many people know that Mitsuye Yamada is one of the few Japanese-American activists for women’s rights and is a poet as well. Through poetry, Mitsuye Yamada discusses the issues that she experienced, such as internment, discrimination, racial violence 

and gender discrimination. Mitsuye Yamada does not just focus 

on the rights of women, but she also fights for the rights of all type of people including men. She believes that everyone should be equal and have the rights that have been given. According to the Densho Encyclopedia, Mitsuye was like other writers of color and strongly believed "that 

Japanese and other Asian women's voices had not been recorded and heard... (n.d., Mitsuye). 

 

In one of her writings, “Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster: Reflections of an Asian American,” she discusses the general stereotype of Asian Americans as quiet and passivet. She believes that being invisible is not okay and is a dangerous matter because an individual begins to lose their true self when trying to please and get the attention of others. 

 

Mitsuye Yamada is an important figure of gender studies because many minorities, like Asian Americans are going through invisibility, where they are becoming someone that they are not and falling into the category of being “typical” or “basic.”  Like she once said before: “To finally recognize 

our own invisibility is to finally be on the path toward visibility. Invisibility is not a natural state for anyone.”

 

Mitsuye provides strength to all types of individuals. She reminds us that we must speak up and fight for what is right. Our self-expression should be seen as part of the “norm.” Mitsuye Yamada's acceptance is the key to a better future.  

 

 

Bibliography

Jaskoski, H., & Yamada, M. (1988). A MELUS Interview: Mitsuye Yamada. MELUS, 15(1), 97-108. doi:10.2307/467043

 

Mitsuye Yamada. (n.d.). Retrieved December 07, 2016, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/mitsuye-yamada

 

Mitsuye Yamada. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2016, from http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Mitsuye_Yamada/

 

 

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.