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Back This Time Will Be Different
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

I introduce everyone, and hand him a bouquet with the things we couldn’t afford to buy a ton of: black-eyed Susans, lilacs, plus a sprig of allspice for compassion and an almond branch for hope. It’s a bit odd-looking, I’ll admit. But I don’t care. I explain its significance to him, and make our proposal:

Most of the objections to changing the school name are purely ideological, and pretty racist. The only logical objection we’ve encountered is that the process of changing the name would cost the school district a lot of money that could be used for other things.

I ask Trey to offer to pay for whatever it costs to change the school name from McAllister to Motohara. After digging around a little, we figure it should cost around a million dollars. Which is a ton of money, no doubt. But for a family whose net worth is ten thousand times that, it’s not a big deal.

“You’ve done your research,” says Trey evenly.

I nod. “We all have.”

“And what can you offer in exchange?” he asks.

“You would know that you’re putting your family back on the right side of history,” I say.

Trey’s eyebrow twitches when he hears this, but he says nothing.

“Plus it’ll be great PR,” says Aviana.

I focus directly on Trey’s face so I won’t see Mom out of the corner of my eye, and say, “Refusing to do anything sends a message to students like us—all of us—that your family isn’t concerned about the racist implications of your grandfather’s name on our school building. It tells us that you value tradition and personal glory over integrity. It shows us that you want us to honor a man who trampled all over what these flowers represent—families, hard work, and their hopes for the future—for his own personal gain.”

Trey looks around the room at the sea of flowers we’ve brought in. All the lives, all the dreams deferred and crushed and stolen away. He looks at us. We look back: We hold you responsible.

Then I take a line straight from Mom’s Advice on How to Live Your Life: “You have to have a mission statement for your life. I saw on the McAllister Foundation’s homepage that its guiding principles are a commitment to acting honestly and with integrity.”

Trey’s eyebrow twitches again, and—maybe?—so does the corner of his mouth. Though I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.