We are not Strangers

Josh Tuininga, 2023

a-z.lu

This story of an unlikely friendship between Marco, a Jewish businessman of Turkish origin, and Sam, a second-generation Japanese fisherman, tells us of a little-known part of American history. After the US government declares war on Japan in 1941, Japanese immigrants and American citizens of Japanese descent are interned in camps all over the country. Anti-Japanese propaganda spreads, thousands of families lose their home, their shops, sometimes their loved ones, and have to live in very harsh conditions behind barbed wire. The author doesn’t hesitate to draw a parallel between their experience and the one of imprisoned Jews in European concentration camps. Far from being provocative, it invites the reader to reflect on the universal human experience of suffering and loss.

In Central District Seattle, a multiracial neighbourhood where the events are set, we witness the birth of a life-long friendship between “two perfect strangers”, so far removed from each other culturally and linguistically. Together they form an alliance against the hatred and racist ideology of the time. A very moving graphic novel, with simple yet touching dialogues, and several textless strips that invite the reader to reflect on the meaning of solidarity and the necessity to keep fighting against injustice.