Recently, my wife and I went to a Walmart to buy a few items. As we went through the self-checkout line, I started ringing up the items while my wife bagged them. One of those items rang up as “Jap Tweezers” on the screen. “Jap.”
My paternal grandfather’s family was forced into the internment camps during WWII. My maternal grandfather’s family was discriminated against during the war and called “Japs” by those with white privilege. U.S. citizens who were discriminated against just because they looked different.
Every generation of my family has served in the U.S. military with honor and distinction since they first came here in the 1930s. I served in the U.S. Navy for six years, four of them overseas and I must come home to this?
I guess that I lost buddies so that the word “Jap” could re-enter our society.
Thank goodness they gave their lives so that Walmart can freely peddle their bigotry for all to see.
I am shocked that such a prominent organization such as Walmart would allow “Jap” to be part of their workplace culture.
I suppose that I should be thankful that Walmart does not have a banner in the front of the store saying, “Go Home Jap!” or “No Japs Allowed!”
Matthew Ikenoyama, Provo