“We were made to believe our faces betrayed us” and “We were told that silence was better.”

Janice Miri Kitani's  " Breaking Silence" is  a poem that focuses on experiences during World War II; when Japanese- American’s were put into internment camps. 

She writes expressing the political agenda, speaks out against people of color, violence and containment her mother went through. Maybe because they were easily identifiable as being Asian, so they felt more racial hatred.

 

Racial discrimination during and after second worldwar is the the main theme of the poem. Japanese Americans were sent to different concentration camps and they did not have any voice but only silence. Silence was the only way they could express their ideas and thoughts. She says " we were made to believe our faces betrayed us. Our bodies were loud with yellow screaming flesh". These lines talk about the racial discrimination faced by Japanese Americans. They did not know what was the mistake they were done for being treat like that. 

She is describing her mother's pain which she faced at concentration camp. The interment of Japanese Americans vividly portrayed through the poem. US officials were

incarcerating Japanese Americans, especially those who were citizens, without a clear reason.Virtually all Japanese Americans were forced to leave their homes and property and live in camps for most of the war. They were put in different camps. Living conditions in these makeshift camps were terrible.

The silence played by her mother was a struggle but poet assures that the silence