Heirloom rice, family history and a nation’s history

Posted by Jacqueline Church Nov 25, 2008

When I wrote We Gain. We Lose. We Question Why. I wasn’t thinking about rice. I was reflecting on the denial of the right to marry for gay citizens in California. Thinking about how it must feel to be overjoyed at the election of President-elect Obama, simultaneously feeling shock about the civil rights setback.

Writing about Koda Farms True Varietal heirloom rice, it occurred to me (and how could it not) that their family history is both unique and emblematic of other families. Especially Japanese families in this country, my own included.

In my post-election essay I asked what my fellow Japanese citizens in the great state of California had done to ensure that no citizens were denied civil rights as they once were. Keisaburo Koda the patriarch of the Koda clan, like so many Japanese citizens continued to believe in his adopted country as a country of liberty. He stayed loyal to it even after being betrayed by it. He was instrumental in the founding of one of the first civil rights organizations in the country, the Japanese American Citizens League. He did all this after having his successful farm stripped of him, dismantled and sold, per Executive Order 9066. He ensured banking and insurance was available to other Japanese Americans. He became a citizen in 1954.

And Koda's story and the story of the family farm tells us that we are a resilient nation of immigrants. Hard-working and willing to stay and fight for the rights that are theirs, to contribute to the welfare of others and to succeed on their own merit. Hopefully this history tells us that civil rights, rights of full citizenship are inevitable for our gay brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, children and parents.

In a simple bowl of rice so much history, pain, comfort and joy.