(originally broadcast on KZOO radio, AM1210, Honolulu, October 18, 2025)

“Aloha! My name is Kerry and I’m a racist.” Which is ironic because I grew up as a “JAP” in Los Angeles of the 60s and 70s, and then lived in Japan for two decades.

I was born the second son of second-generation Japanese Nisei parents in Los Angeles, California in 1960 in a predominantly black neighborhood . 

During World War II, my mother and father were forcibly “relocated” and illegally incarcerated in the so-called “internment camps” of World War II—despite being native-born American citizens.

After the war ended, the family settled in Los Angeles in a black neighborhood, one of the few places where “JAPS” were allowed to live.

In the early 1950s, my father was drafted and served honorably in the US Army during the Korean War—defending the very country that put him and 120,000 legal Japanese immigrants and American-born Japanese-American citizens in “internment camps” less than 10 years before.

Despite these experiences, my father was never bitter and always had a big smile and kind words for everyone.

So, what is racism?

I attended an all-black elementary school and kids would tease me, “Hey, chink, ching-chong chinaman, hahaha!”

I survived elementary school by learning to “fit in” to black culture of the 1960s—I learned to walk and talk like a black kid.

I also experienced firsthand the anger and rage that are the consequences of racism. 

I remember the Watts Riots of 1965; there were soldiers riding jeeps with machine guns in front of my house!

I remember the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. 

All the black kids at school were furious and I was caught up in that anger, rage, and violent thoughts, words, and actions.

In the 1970s, I benefited from the forced integration of “all-white” schools through “Affirmative Action”. 

I attended one of the best public junior high schools in Los Angeles, which was 97% white.

I was shocked to discover my classmates were “white” people who were discriminated against…for their religious beliefs.

My classmates were all Jewish, whose grandparents, parents, and relatives had survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps of World War II.

In 1981, I went to Japan for the first time, where I was in for an even bigger shock. 

Arriving at Narita International Airport, I looked around and thought something felt “strange.”

Suddenly, I realized, “Hey, everyone looks like me!” and “Wow, the white kids really stand out!”

Being Japanese-American in Japan—being perceived as the “majority” for the first time in my life—was a completely new experience.

BUT I also learned that because I looked Japanese, I was expected to BE Japanese, to speak Japanese perfectly, to act like a Japanese at all times, and to follow all the unspoken rules and politeness protocols. 

Being from Los Angeles, a sansei third-generation Japanese-AMERICAN, who still walked and talked like a black kid, I struggled every day with the perception and expectation I was JAPANESE.

So, I learned to speak, read, and write Japanese fluently.

I adapted, I improvised, I overcame the linguistic and cultural challenges, which led to career as a writer, executive, and consultant in Japan, Asia-Pacific, and China, which ultimately led me back to my Buddhist roots, and now my final career as a Buddhist priest and temple minister. 

But I’m still a racist!

Part of me feels the fear and anxiety of my brothers and sisters “who look different” in 2025, which makes me think I can identify with them.

But part of me says, “Better them than me!”

Part of me says, “I’m not racist!”

Part of me says, “I’m better than those other guys, they are racists!”

I’d like to think that because of my parent’s internment camp experience, having experienced discrimination, because of the advantages I’ve enjoyed arising from systemic racism, and living in Japan that I am not a racist.

BUT in reality “I’m a racist!”

Why? 

Let’s seek guidance from the Dharma of Master Shinran, Founder of Jodo Shinshu, who lived in 12th and 13th centuries in Japan.

When a person realizes the mind of non-discrimination,
That attainment is the “state of regarding each being as one’s only child.”This is none other than Buddha-Nature.
We will awaken to it on reaching the land of peace.

— Shinran Shōnin, Hymns of the Pure Land, Verse 92
Collected Works of Shinran, Volume 1, page 350

It is human nature to look for easy answers to the complex issues facing our nation today.  

It is easy to say Buddhism teaches us to regard “each being as one’s only child.”

We can all agree with that insight and guidance. 

So, why is it so hard to actually integrate the mind of non-discrimination into our daily lives?

Jodo Shinshu Buddhism doesn’t provide any easy answers and forces me to confront my true nature: I am a racist.

Fact: I benefited from systemic racism against people who are different in America. 

Fact: I benefited from forced integration of white schools, and preferential university admissions policies under Affirmative Action..

Fact: I have experienced racism, yes, BUT I have never been stopped by Federal agents just because of the color of my skin. 

Reality-as-it-is: It is I who has ignored the pain, suffering, and injustice endured by my black, brown, yellow, indigenous and immigrant brothers and sisters for too long, for my entire life.

I am a racist. The racist is me.

Jodo Shinshu demands we relentlessly self-reflect, to look deep inside ourselves, to confront our Ego-Self, our True Human Nature, to awaken to how our thoughts, words, and actions impact other people and all forms of life. 

Jodo Shinshu forces me to realize that I am guilty of ignoring the reality of racism in America today.

When Shinran says, “We will awaken to it when we reach the Land of Peace,” that means we awaken to our Buddha-Nature AFTER we are born in the Pure Land — after we pass from this world and become free of the limitations of this human mind and human body.

This is a brutally realistic view of human nature, which destroys the ego-centric pretense that I am a “good person” and, thus not a racist.

Shinran is teaching us that it is not possible for us as ordinary foolish human beings—through our own Self-Power—to magically become not racist, to not discriminate, to not judge others, to not take for granted the advantages and privileges we enjoy.

Through our own Self-Power, it is not possible for us to conquer our racist thoughts, words, and actions, while we remain in human form. 

It is not possible for us to become truly “not racist.”

It is only when I truly accept, “I’m the racist!” that I can begin to understand that I will never experience the pain and suffering of my black, brown, yellow, indigenous and immigrant brothers and sisters, the pain and suffering of all people of color, all people who are perceived as different, all people who suffer from a system designed to create inequality and benefit the chosen few.

It is only when I admit to myself, “I’m the racist!” that I begin to stop pointing my finger at other people and say, “They are the racists!”

The promise of Amida’s Vow is that we will awaken to the Mind of Non-Discrimination and become one with Amida, All-Inclusive Wisdom and All-Embracing Compassion, when we are born in the Pure Land.

Amida vows to save us, just as we are, through Birth in the Pure Land.

Knowing with absolute conviction we will be Born into the Pure Land, it is then totally up to us to decide what we do with our unrepeatable life in the time we have left before we go forth to Birth.

The anger, hatred, and racism we see in America today provide us with a rare and wondrous opportunity to truly look at ourselves, right here, right now.

Awakening to reality-as-it-is and accepting “I’m a racist!” is the first step toward changing our thoughts, our words, our actions, and joining hands with others in building an anti-racist America and a world where inequality is vanquished.

Change begins with me, just as I am. Today. Right here, right now.

Thus, I am profoundly grateful that Amida’s Light of Wisdom shines on me revealing my ego-self, and that Amida’s Great Compassion fills my heart, urging me to not despair but to have hope.

There is hope for me, there is hope for our black, brown, yellow, indigenous, and immigrant brothers and sisters, there is hope for all people who suffer from inequality and injustice.

There is hope because Amida’s Boundless Compassion and Infinite Light of Wisdom embrace all people, just as they are—without discrimination or judgement. 

The Path of Nembutsu is as difficult as saying, “I’m a racist!” and awakening the Heart of Compassion and Mind of Non-Discrimination within our hearts and minds.

The Path of Nembutsu is as easy as saying, “Namo Amida Butsu” in gratitude and joy for Amida working in our unrepeatable lives, just as we are.

Just say NamoAmidaButsu!

Just Say Mahalo!

Mahalo for listening this morning!

May your day be filled with aloha!

NamoAmidaButsu!