From DiscoverNikkei.org
Brandon Quan: A Modern MISer
Jessica Kawamura
When we think of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), it is almost always in the context of the Nisei who served during World War II (NJAHS was founded by MIS veterans). Brandon Quan, however, represents a younger generation of Nikkei MIS language interpreters. By the time he turned 32, he’d already served in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He now understands a little more about the experiences of his forbears and much more about the world. But mostly, he’s learned about himself.
Quan grew up in the Richmond District of San Francisco. He and his younger brother participated in Boy Scout Troop 29 and in San Francisco Buddhist Church basketball league, and he attended Morning Star and Sacred Heart schools, both near Japantown. At Sacred Heart he gained his first view of the world beyond his “pretty typical” home.
“Sacred Heart was primarily Caucasian at that time, and that was . . . an introduction to racial differences for me,” he says. “I had grown up around a lot of minorities before that, and that was the first time I really noticed the barriers between races. I was pretty mellow then, so I don’t remember any major problems. I actually got along with quite a few of the Caucasians, but I definitely saw the distinction between whites and minorities.
Jessica Kawamura is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island. She is studying conversational Japanese, African American history and the Southeast Asian American experience. In her spare time, she is an organizer in the Asian American community. She wrote this profile when she was an intern at NJAHS in 2004.
Source: Jessica Kwamura, "Brandon Quan: A Modern MISer," in Nikkei Heritage Vol. XVII, no.1 (Spring 2005): 4-5.
The National Japanese American Historical Society, a Discover Nikkei Affiliate, contributed this article to the Discover Nikkei web site. Nikkei Heritage is a quarterly journal of the National Japanese American Historical Society, which provides timely analysis and insight into the many facets of the Japanese American experience.