Chapters (77)
- Cover
- Dedication
- 1
- 2
- A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part I
- 3
- The History of My Beef with Brynn Foer-Preston
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part I
- 8
- 9
- A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part I
- 10
- 11
- 12
- A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part II
- 13
- The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part II
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- The Complicated History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Imaginary Relationship with Her Nonexistent Dad
- 20
- 21
- 22
- A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part III
- 23
- 24
- 25
- A Brief, Backward History of the McAllister Family, as Paraphrased from the San Jose Mercury News
- 26
- 27
- 28
- A Quick and Eerily Relevant History of Asians in America
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part IV
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part II (Or Maybe It’s a Prequel)
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part III
- 54
- A Note from the Author
- Index of Flowers and their Meanings
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Praise for This Time Will Be Different
- Books by Misa Sugiura
- Back Ad
- About the Publisher
So I push onward. “People talk about protecting kids’ feelings, but that’s not the real issue. The real issue is whether you’re going to take a principled public stand against the idea that it’s okay to treat ethnic minorities as dangerous criminals and foreign invaders,” I say. “You can’t erase your grandfather’s mistakes and their consequences. But you can do the right thing and acknowledge them. You can write a new paragraph. With Ryōhei Motohara’s name on our school.”
At the school board meetings, everyone wrapped up their speeches by saying thank you and walking away from the podium to huge cheers from our audience. But it feels silly to say thank you here; and no one’s cheering for me now, that’s for sure. So I just stand there, slowly suffocating from the tension in the room.
Mom’s arms remain crossed, and her mouth is set in a hard line. Alice, at her desk, looks uncertain about what she should do. Trey just nods slowly.
It’s kind of horrible.
Just when I think I’m going to pass out from anxiety, Trey says, “Well. That was very impressive. What do you think, Michelle?”
Mom nods but doesn’t smile.
I don’t know what do with that. I glance nervously at the others, but they seem as lost as me.
Nikki comes to her senses first. “So,” she says, “will you consider funding the name change? With a statement about why, maybe?”
“I would love to give you a definitive answer,” Trey replies. “But I’m going to have to table this issue for now and get back to you another time. I have a pretty important deal to negotiate upstairs, and I had to leave it to come down and listen to you all—not that I didn’t enjoy the break.”
Trey reaches out and shakes our hands, one by one, and says briskly, “It’s been great to meet you all, but Ms. Katsuyama and I do have to get back to our meeting. Thanks for dropping in.”
“All right, guys,” says Mom in the tone she uses when she’s kicking me off my phone. “You’re done.” She barely looks at me, and she doesn’t even say goodbye before she turns her back and follows Trey through the double doors at the end of the path.
“Um, thank you for your time,” Owen calls after them, and the rest of us barely have time to add our hurried thanks before two security guards appear and shepherd us out the door.
52
ONCE WE GET OUTSIDE, I’M SHAKING SO HARD I feel like I might collapse in on myself.
Emily gives me a long hug. “You did great.”