A Fan Letter to Gordon Hirabayashi

By Michael Angelo

Dear Gordon Hirabayashi, I wish we didn’t need you. A single sane voice in a world gone mad. Reaching through bars, reaching freedom for the future. Patron saint of the Asian-American, the Far East on the West Coast.

Gordon Hirabayashi, you said: “I will defy your rules. Lest your rules stop me. But your rules cannot stop me.”

Gordon Hirabayashi, between Gandhi and King, there was you. But unlike Gandhi and King, you stood alone.

Gordon Hirabayashi, you’re a G. From now on, “G” stands for Gordon Hirabayashi. From now on, I stand for...

Gordon Hirabayashi, we have many differences: You look to faith while I look to facts. You fight for your principals as I work to define mine. You rest in peace as I continue to fight for it. Yet we share those differences, have them in common. As well as one other contradiction: We love America, but we will fight America because we love America.

We fight so we will not need heroes like you. Yet time, eras, generations pass, and we need heroes like you.

One day, I may meet you. Yet by that time, my work in this world will be done. Your wisdom granted to me at the threshold where I can no longer use it. Yet I am grateful for what I know, for the energy passed on from your past to our future.

I wish we didn’t need you, but thank god we have you, Gordon Hirabayashi.