Compare And Contrast Nakashima And Washington

The term “Americanness” can be defined as the characteristic of being American. Over the years, the negatives regarding race have seemingly undermined what it means to be an American. We get a better understanding of this and what it means to be American from the writings of Ted Nakashima, Booker T. Washington and Marco Rubio. Rubio talks about how he believes we should restore the American dream which will give a basis to what “Americanness” is all about. Then I will compare it to Nakashima and Washington’s views. Nakashima offers a 1940’s response on the perspective from a Japanese American during the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Washington writes on his beliefs on how African Americans and white people should act. Each author is of a different race and …show more content…
Style, shows how being American is not always the most valued trait. Nakashima was born and raised in America and came from a “thoroughly American background” (Nakashima, 204) but after Pearl Harbor, he was not seen as American. All people saw were his Japanese ancestry. Throughout his piece, Nakashima emphasizes how “American” his life was and offers a sense of what it means to be American. He states, “I left a life, highballs with our American friends on the weekends” (Nakashima, 205), he then lists seemingly “American” jobs such as a carpenter, airlines pilot, etc. Is this what it means to be American? Evidently to Nakashima, he was a fine American but because he had Japanese ancestry he and his family were thrown into camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor and seen as enemies to others. At the end of his piece he states that “we’re on this side and we want to help” (Nakashima, 205). He is still loyal to his country and wants to help defend it. His story undermines the meaning of “Americanness” because it proves that no matter how “American” one might be or how loyal he is to his country, it can be stripped away in times of fear because of the way someone