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Back This Time Will Be Different Save as PDF
Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part I
  6. 3
  7. The History of My Beef with Brynn Foer-Preston
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part I
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part I
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part II
  20. 13
  21. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part II
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. The Complicated History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Imaginary Relationship with Her Nonexistent Dad
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part III
  33. 23
  34. 24
  35. 25
  36. A Brief, Backward History of the McAllister Family, as Paraphrased from the San Jose Mercury News
  37. 26
  38. 27
  39. 28
  40. A Quick and Eerily Relevant History of Asians in America
  41. 29
  42. 30
  43. 31
  44. 32
  45. 33
  46. 34
  47. 35
  48. 36
  49. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part IV
  50. 37
  51. 38
  52. 39
  53. 40
  54. 41
  55. 42
  56. 43
  57. 44
  58. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part II (Or Maybe It’s a Prequel)
  59. 45
  60. 46
  61. 47
  62. 48
  63. 49
  64. 50
  65. 51
  66. 52
  67. 53
  68. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part III
  69. 54
  70. A Note from the Author
  71. Index of Flowers and their Meanings
  72. Acknowledgments
  73. About the Author
  74. Praise for This Time Will Be Different
  75. Books by Misa Sugiura
  76. Back Ad
  77. About the Publisher

She has no idea who I am anymore. She doesn’t know what I value, she doesn’t know what I think, and she doesn’t know how I feel. And she has no right to tell me what I can and can’t do about stuff that matters to me. I take a big breath. “It is my business. I love Heart’s Desire. And my school is named after the guy who stole it from us. He hated people like us, Mom, and the school is named after him and it’s built on land he stole from another Japanese American. It’s totally my business.”

“Um, Ceej, I have to agree with Mom on this,” says Hannah, and I find myself doing an actual double take.

“What?”

“I mean, stay engaged, sweet pea. Stay aware. But keep your opinions offline. Don’t start anything at school or say anything to the press. I don’t want any trouble coming your way because of this. Okay? I don’t want you becoming a target.”

“Finally, something reasonable,” says Mom. And when Hannah side-eyes her, she mumbles, “Thank you, Hannah.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“No,” says Mom. “Hannah’s right. You can’t get publicly involved. I forbid it. I’m going to have the publicist for the firm let all the media outlets know that you’re off-limits.”

“You can’t do that. What about my First Amendment rights?”

“I can, and I will. Your First Amendment rights are hereby waived; you are my daughter and I will not allow you to put yourself at risk. If you have a problem with that, you can sue me.”

I turn to Hannah, but she shakes her head. “I told you I’m with your mom on this. Sorry. You’ll have to work behind the scenes.”

“Or not,” says Mom, glaring at Hannah. “I want you to stay out of this completely, CJ.”

I’m struck suddenly by the irony of this situation. All that talk about Having a Vision, Getting Involved, Making a Plan, Being Proactive, blah, blah, blah, and now when things really matter, she wants me to check out. Too late. I do have a Vision, I am Making a Plan, and I am going to Proactivate the shit out of it.

30

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE HAVE managed to overlook or excuse the racist roots of the McAllisters’ money until now, but I guess it’s a little like those statues of Confederate leaders that stood for decades before people finally united to demand they be taken down. It’s not nearly on the same scale, of course. But it’s proof of how willing lots of people are to forget—or bury—stuff that makes them look bad.