how many more // Our People, Our Stories

Image Description: A collage with the San Francisco Comfort Women Memorial and two origami butterflies in the background. The letters spell out “how many more” and “Our People, Our Stories” repeated three times each.

how many more will you take? 

how many more will you drag away?

how many more will you punish with pain?

nine, eight, seven left living in terror,

“apologize, apologize,” does that sound ever ring in your head?

does your “final and irreversible resolution” help you sleep at night?

can you not hear the pain you put them through,

8.3 million? you call that an apology?

you don’t respect us. Our People, Our Stories.

is it enough when ninety percent of them were gone before 2000?

and what will you do for their families, the ones who shunned them for 

your actions — recognize that familial pride exists outside of your land too.

someone’s precious daughter’s wings clipped too early, too soon

you stole her dignity and took her from her home,

erased it from your narrative but what does it matter? will any compensation be enough?

Image Description: Origami butterflies, folded in colored paper, are taped onto two poster boards. Also on the board, the words “WWII Comfort Women Memorial” are present.

like cowards, it was just a business exchange for you.

you heard it here first—we “cannot emotionally accept” your dirty, foul money,

the history of your military enslavement still reeks from the books we study.

you may think you can escape it—you may think you’re “friends” now,

but those relations of yours will always be tarnished with a layer of 

the blood of Our People, the silencing of Our Stories. i ask you again,

how many more will you continue to silence?

how many more will continue to suffer?

how many more will your narrative haunt mine?

how much more do you have to take 

before we fold to your price to pay?

Image Description: Origami butterflies, folded in colored paper, are in the process of being taped onto a poster board. Surrounding the board are additional origami butterflies.

“Comfort Women” History Resources

For those interested in learning more about the history of “comfort women” these resources are dedicated to providing an overview of what has happened in the past, as well as what is currently happening politically.

• Comfort Women Resource Center (UCLA)
  • https://www.international.ucla.edu/cks/care 
• “Comfort Women” History and Issues (Education for Social Justice Foundation)
  • https://www.e4sjf.org/comfort-women-history-and-issues.html 
• Not All South Koreans Satisfied With Japan’s Apology To ‘Comfort Women’ (NPR)
  • https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/05/30/529671510/not-all-south-koreans-satisfied-with-japans-apology-to-comfort-women 
• Scholarly Works, Memoirs and Novels about the “Comfort Women” (Columbia Law School)
  • https://kls.law.columbia.edu/content/scholarly-works-memoirs-and-novels-about-comfort-women 

• Seeking the True Story of the Comfort Women (The New Yorker)
  • https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/seeking-the-true-story-of-the-comfort-women-j-mark-ramseyer 
• Teaching about the Comfort Women during World War II and the Use of Personal Stories of the Victims (Association for Asian Studies)
  • https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/teaching-about-the-comfort-women-during-world-war-ii-and-the-use-of-personal-stories-of-the-victims/ 
• The Brutal History of Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’ (HISTORY)
  • https://www.history.com/articles/comfort-women-japan-military-brothels-korea 
• WWII “Comfort Women” Informational Flyer & Memorial Image Gallery (Hyerim Shaylee Yoon)
  • https://www.canva.com/design/DAGib5Rw0-w/SFsLln4-bzBUiugkzfnTaA/view?utm_content=DAGib5Rw0-w&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=hb720268d7f