Weeks ago I got an email from Sarah Vinnett. After reading my article, she wrote to me about her family and some of the trials that they overcame. It definitely gave me a heads-up. Thank you Sarah for being so open. Appreciate you allowing me to publicly share your story. My name is Sarah, or in Japanese 聖良. I’m half Creole (my Father is from New Orleans) and half Japanese (my Mother is from Japan, specifically the Kansai area). …
Author: Tracy Jones
Sorry for the long pause of posts. My daughter, Kantra was out of school and I’m working on some things that always get buried under writing assignments. Last month Huffpost published my personal article, “I’m Raising A Biracial Daughter In Japan, Where She’s Surrounded By Blackface.” I know I should’ve written a reaction to its reaction(s), but I had to counter the vertigo of retweets and likes. The world’s response was head-spinning. I had a TV reporter contact me about doing …
Here’s an article I wrote for Tokyo Weekender (April 2018). The piece is about the short feature film, Born With It. The movie follows Keisuke, an African-Japanese boy growing up in a small Japanese town. He’s the new kid and the only black one. I talked to director Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour. He made the film in 2015, but its still getting recognized. Next month Born will air on PBS and later streamed online. Watch the trailer below. Sorry for the long absence. …
Just wrote an article about raising my daughter, Kantra in Japan. It’s up here. Watching her has inspired me and its forced me and my wife to grow in unforeseeable ways. Nothing humbles you like a determined child who doesn’t give a single solitary fuck about what you doing, what you need to do, or what you was about to do. “Daddy, play with me.” Got an essay that’s getting published. Hopefully it’ll drop soon. Won’t say who yet, but …
Writing about Black Panther and googling it while trying to avoid spoilers is like boxing yourself. But learning about Wakanda’s king still got me hyped. A lot of themes came out of writing this Black Panther post for Tokyo Weekender. The movie is a treasure trove of symbolism and possibility. Here, the cultural and social impact of this film is epic. For kids like my four-year-old daughter and parents like me who worry about their child’s mental health and safety, …