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If you don’t remember how special December 7th is, I get it.

You’re busy. You’re likely traumatized after last night’s GOP presidential debate, where Vivek Ramaswamy attacked fellow South Asian pol Nikki Haley for Americanizing her name and playing identity politics.

But then fellow debater Chris Christie rushed to Haley’s defense, calling Ramaswamy “the most obnoxious blowhard in America.” It was a notable takedown in a debate where Trump, the twice impeached, four-time criminally indicted GOP front-running candidate, didn’t even bother to show up.

He’s the guy who admitted on Fox News that if he were elected, he would be dictator for just a day–which is one day too many in an endangered democracy.

But all that was on Dec. 6.

This is Dec. 7, which lives on in a totally different universe of infamy, when an Asian dictator attacked America.

It’s been 82 years, not exactly one of those special round- numbered years you herald, mourn, or cheer as a great historical milestone. The 82nd time around for anything just has that ring of old news. One yearns for the luxury of forgetting.

But we can’t afford to forget when the date in question is Dec. 7, 1941.

If you’re part of those dubbed “the greatest generation,” you will never forget the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. officially was forced into World War II.

And if you’re simply Asian American, you should never forget this day because it gave us a kind of moral authority for the rest of our Asian American lives.

No matter what your age, your generation, your Asian ethnicity. No matter when you arrived in America, naturalized or born here, you must remember the day it all began on Dec. 7, 1941.

Before that day, Asian Americans were just othered in our own particular groups and in our own time. Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Filipino–we were all brought to America since the 19th century, and then excluded or included based on political whim.

But Dec. 7, 1941 forever shaped our American experience–because Asian Americans looked like the enemy.

Our own country became confused and began to see all Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners.

From that day forward, we were put in a special place. Japanese Americans were rounded up and incarcerated in camps. If we weren’t Japanese, we weren’t incarcerated, but America still had a hard time distinguishing among us.

Solidarity among us? Shamefully, this was a time when Chinese and Filipinos wore badges that proclaimed publicly, “I’m not Japanese.” As Japanese American status plummeted, some groups rose in the pecking order of society. It happened all over Asian American communities on both east and west coasts.

A few lucky Asian Americans were able to prove their loyalty to America and showed their patriotism on the battlefield.

Some 18,000 Nisei served in the military in three units—the US Army’s 100th Infantry Battalion, the “Go for Broke” 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service. With 3,600 Purple Hearts, 350 Silver Stars, and 810 Bronze Stars, Japanese Americans were a distinguished group.

There were also 12,000 to 15,000 Chinese Americans who served in every branch of the military.

And because Filipinos’ status changed from U.S. colonized nationals to aliens in 1934, President Roosevelt signed a special law allowing 7,000 Filipinos in America to fight in the newly formed 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiment.

The Army gave many of our families a fighting chance to show we did belong in America. For those who served, we also began to see the perks. The GI Bill gave access to education. VA loans made housing affordable. The war became the entry point into the American middle class.

But if you were like my father, 4F and disqualified from service due to health, the war was not the answer.

My father lived in the Fillmore, the Japanese American/African American section of San Francisco, and felt what it was like to be Asian American when America was fighting Asians. It wasn’t easy.

As Asian Americans, we can’t forget Dec. 7, 1941. Whether we realize it or not, what happened that day still plays a role in how we experience life in America. That lingering Pearl Harbor effect will persist so long as Asian Americans continue to be perceived as foreigners in their own home country.

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NOTE: I will talk about this column and other matters on “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” my AAPI micro-talk show. Live @2p Pacific. Livestream on Facebook; my YouTube channel; and Twitter. Catch the recordings on www.amok.com.