a large piece of land in Sacramento. Kiyo’s father, his brother, and the
friend shared ownership under the company name. Of that land, 20
acres (8 ha) belonged to Shinji. “Flat land extended to the horizon . . .
interrupted only by a dry unattended almond orchard,” Kiyo said. “On
our new twenty-acre parcel, a creek ran through the middle, creating a
Until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kiyo experienced little of this
prejudice and discrimination directly because most of her neighbors
were Japanese. The white people with whom she came in contact
were kind to her. After the bombing, however, everything changed.
A member of the Hollywood Protective Association points to anti-
Japanese signs on her house. The association was formed in Hollywood,
California, in the 1920s as part of an effort to ensure segregation and
white dominance in Hollywood neighborhoods. “Japs” is a racist term for
Japanese people. This photo dates to the early 1920s.
17
An Ordinary Family
