Roanoke Japanese American woman speaks out against mayor

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ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - Roanoke Mayor David Bowers is under fire after comments made on Syrian refugee assistance in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.

Bowers asked the Roanoke valley to suspend refugee assistance until normalcy is restored.

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He also compared ISIS to Japanese foreign nationals after the bombing of Pearl Harbor saying he understood the decision President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to make.

WSLS 10 sat down with one local Japanese American woman speaking out about the mayor's comments.

Deanna Kubota is a Hollins University graduate student from Hawaii who's made her home in Roanoke.

When Kubota learned of the mayor's comments at a news conference Wednesday she says she was shocked, even hurt since she feels he's done a great job leading Roanoke up until this point.

"It's really disappointing he would say something that was rather ignorant and very insensitive," Kubota explained.

After reading the mayor's comments on Facebook she called her father in Hawaii to vent.

He told her as a Japanese American, with a decorated World War II grandfather who fought for American, she has an opportunity to educate people on the patriotism many Japanese Americans felt after Pearl Harbor.

"In reaction to [Pearl Harbor] a lot of Japanese Americans signed up for the war effort to prove their patriotism to say, ‘hey, no we are on your side, we are Americans and we want to defend our country'," she said.

Just as Japanese shouldn't have faced discrimination during World War II, Kubota says Syrians shouldn't also face bias today and has this message for the mayor.

"In the time of the season, the pilgrims were religious refugees and there are some very famous refugees that have proven to us as Americans that it is very American to be a refugee and to come to America."


About the Author:

After working and going to school in Central Virginia for over five years, Lindsey’s made her way back home to the mountains.