Equality and opportunity
Today in modern America, the language of equality and opportunity are commonplace, but there was a time before when equality meant equality for only a specific portion of people. The idea was that privileged men had a more sincerely human identity or something, so that historically disenfranchised people groups had to demand equality through time, to mixed avail. The women's rights movement comes to mind as an example. The language of equality existed a long time before it ever applied to them. The imagery described by Takaki is one where equality and opportunity must be demanded and fought for.
Race and prejudice
The book is a lengthy examination of all the ways that the American government and political majority afflicted minority populations, typically with racial prejudice. In America, the case has been that racism was taken as the status quo so that the majority population historically dismissed and dehumanized people from other places. Ironically this began with the Native Americans when the Europeans were the foreigners! Then, racist ideas were applied to African Americans (who were literally forced to come to America as slaves). That was an especially pernicious instance, but there are others. The book explains how racial prejudice has led to the mistreatment of Irish people, Jewish people, Mexican people, Chinese people, Japanese people, and more.
History and time
The imagery of time is abstract, but in this historical discussion of race and policy, the imagery plays an important role in understanding the nature of these conflicts. For instance, a lot of people might feel that slavery was hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but the practice ended in the mid-19th century. It existed for a lot longer than it has been illegal. Then there are the 20th century examples of racism against African Americans, yes, but also Jewish and Irish people in urban areas and the mistreatment of Japanese and Chinese populations. The Japanese internment camps happened in the 20th century. By applying the imagery of time back into these considerations, the dire nature of systematic injustice can be seen as still relevant and urgent.
Enfranchisement and disenfranchisement
One of the ways that historical mistreatment of people groups manifests issues into the future is through disenfranchisement. By historically disenfranchising certain people from opportunities and education, some cultures are held back and made to compete for less resources. There are differences in the access to opportunity in upper and lower classes, and if minority populations have been historically disenfranchised from opportunity, education, and wealth, then lower classes will tend to be comprised of the children of those who were historically disenfranchised. This is the imagery of the present and the future. What is the damage done by this history, and what can be done about it now?
