George Takei on Life Inside a Japanese Internment Camp During WWII
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- Опубліковано 26 лют 2014
- www.democracynow.org - Legendary actor, author and activist, George Takei, best known for playing Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, appears on Democracy Now! for an extended interview. In this excerpt, he talks about his role as World War II veteran Sam Kimura in "Allegiance: A New American Musical." The musical tells the story of a Japanese-American family who is relocated from their farm after the attack on Pearl Harbor and placed in an internment camp in Wyoming. This parallels part of Takei's own family history. At the age of five, his family was shipped to a Japanese-American internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas.
Watch the full 40-minute interview with George Takei on Democracy Now!: www.democracynow.org/2014/2/27...
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I hate it how the us tried to cover this up and pretended they did nothing
Exactly it annoys me when civilians babble on and on then you have this guy talking about Democracy and rights. It's warfare. Certain freedoms go out the window in a situation of national security. What do you think martial law is. Like I said below this is why we have a military civilians aren't qualified or informed to make or judge any wartime decisions without Intel. Period.
+Conspiracy Theorista - Why are you on this thread? Protecting the homeland from whom? A five-year-old George Takei? LoL! Mind you, not one Japanese American was ever accused, arrested or convicted of disloyalty to the U.S. And don't bring up the Niihau event again. Hawaii was not a part of the U.S. at the time - it was only a territory, and what happened there does not constitute disloyalty or treason. (Hawaiians were not even considered Americans at the time).
No Beavus. We learned all about this as children. When the Demonrat party created the US dept of EDU in '75 THEY scrubbed it from the history books.
My grandparents were interned in Poston. I never knew that my mother was Japanese. She married Chinese..I grew up thinking I was Chinese until I married (after 25 yrs). Such a sad secret about my families heritage!!
Sounds similar to Dorothy Toy. Quite an impressive Hollywood dancer with Paul Wing.
Dorothy Toy was really Shigeko Takahashi. When folks found out she was really Japanese American then various shows were canceled.
Pretty interesting story.
This was so powerful..
His voice is beautiful
I cry when I see this and think of the time my father was sent to Santa Fe. My mother and my 4 siblings were left in Tule Lake. Winter was horrible and the sandstorm was horrible. Jeanette Haimoto Guyote
amazing editing on this video gives us a glimpse of his life in only 7 min
As a born and bred Californian I can totally relate to this video, Im not Japanese but I can feel their pain of going from free Americans to being rounded up and sent to barbed wire internment camps.
On my reservation, the Gila River Indian Community, there are two sites where Japanese peoples were held. Today the streets (gravel roads) are still visible, albeit a bit overgrown with brush. The fountains and shrines they built are somewhat intact.
After the war, the barracks that housed the Japanese peoples were given to reservation residents, my Grandmother received one. She always swore she could hear people speaking in a strange language.
Rey Cawker Awesome !
***** I would answer that question but I don't know enough about how much stress Germans and Italians in the US were under during WW2 to even make a guess.
***** It was bad in California, however not sure about the other States and I'm not a history expert.
My grandparents were forced into the internment camps for the war. They had to abandon their restaurant and apartment above the restaurant, as well as most of their belongings. Fortunately when the camps were closed, they're restaurant and apartment were waiting for them, just in need of moderate repairs.
They spoke of their stay at Camp Granada (SE Colorado) with actual pride. In their view, Pearl Harbor was too close to their home in San Francisco. They feared not only being hurt by bombing, but they also feared suspicion and retaliation from other Californians. This led them to believe their stay at Granada would be safer for them than California. When all was said and done, they looked at the experience as "doing their part" to maintain calm in an era when neighbors and friends were dying overseas for the long term benefit of the country. I did ask my grandmother if they felt singled out or scapegoated. She told me no, she was just happy my grandfather didn't have to enlist and deploy. She also said that many German Americans went through the same ordeal, and that Canada enacted the same policies. (I know that doesn't make it right, but these are their own options about a situation they endured, not me.)
Both of my grandparents instilled in us the virtue of never feeling like a victim, and the power of self discipline. Lessons I carry with me today. Granted people tend to react with anger towards me over my grandparents' opinions. All of these people were born after the war. So, as my grandmother used to tell me, "Whatever."
Conversations are still important though. Today, are biggest threat is censorship and deplatforming. Without being able to express or be exposed to different perspectives, we're creating fascism while pretending to fight it.
Thank you! You have answered a question I've long wondered about, the idea that people being in the camps might have been something that actually kept them out of harm's way at that time. Understand, how it was done and for whatever reasons may not have been right, but it's Possible that by keeping people seperated from the general population it may well have saved lives. We must also remember that the picture of Japanese Americans was not entirely negative at that time, the 442nd became the most decorated unit of its size in U.S. military history and was made up of almost all Japanese American volunteers, include men from the camps. At it's peak, there was nearly 14,000 men in this unit and they fought in both the Pacific and Europe. Their battles were not kept secret during the war and it seems, oddly enough, that this could have been the military/government way to get people to realized that not all Japanese were the enemy. At least that's another way of looking at all this, little perspective on the subject. Intersting story about your grandparents, thanks.
I'm a sansei born and raised in Hawaii. Didn't know anyone who went to an internment camp till I went to college in CA. Never heard anyone mention that being interned was "doing their part". Your grandparents were great patriots, true blue Americans! Thank you for posting your comment.
@@sueclark5763 It doesn't matter if "all" japanese people aren't bad. You don't seem to understand that if even one spy gets through it can spell defeat. You know "all" men aren't bad, yet you are still rightfully wary of when one is walking behind you when you're alone at night. You have a reason to worry based on this group's passed actions to many women despite most men walking behind you at night having no ill intentions.
All Japanese people aren't spies or seeking to sabotage the US. But almost all people who are going to sabotage an ally on behalf of the Japanese are going to be Japanese people. The Germans and Italians were also interned, you don't see them whining about it.
This was such a serious matter that it required serious action. Smart people understand this, children and bleeding heart liberals who don't understand war do not.
*and that Canada enacted the same policies.*
Yes. And you know who else did as well? Japan. And guess how nice they were to us in those camps?
Your people were some of the most horrific bast@rds I've ever heard of in history. Worse than the nazis by far.
*Both of my grandparents instilled in us the virtue of never feeling like a victim*
Did they also teach you to never feel like a giraffe as well? What other things will you never be that they taught you? You aren't a victim and neither were they. You're lucky to live in the nation we built and don't forget it.
Yet here you are acting like you deserve a cookie for not thinking yourself a victim.
*they looked at the experience as "doing their part" to maintain calm in an era when neighbors and friends were dying overseas for the long term benefit of the country*
Doing their part would have been going home and protesting what their government was doing in a land it would have actually mattered, as opposed to taking up tax payer dollars to house, feed and school their children until the war was finished. Then happily taking tens of thousands more dollars each in restitutions while demanding apologies for decades, and getting many. We're still waiting on just one from the Japanese government.
Don't mistake "doing your part" for "doing what you're told". They did what they were told, nothing more nothing less.
@@Movs.Understanding war does not mean condoning the elimination of what should be people's American rights. You can admit something happened in your nation's history without condoning it. Also, you don't see "Germans and Italians whining about it" because the overwhelming vast majority of those taken were Japanese. Comparing not walking alone at night to ripping people from their homes and allowing them to live in squalor is a gross exaggeration, especially when even people that were only 1/16th Japanese were eligible to be taken, people who's families had not lived overseas in generations. Get your head examined, I think you're missing some empathy.
Can't believe they made them say the pledge of allegiance
Yeah cuz that would like really break your balls.
The two quotes by his Farther shows up what high a standard of man he must have been, and it shows in his son. :)
@1:48-2:15 Truer words have never been spoken. 👍🇺🇸
Oh my
❤️
Article one Secion 9 of the US Constitution says "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.". In other words people can be locked up without trail as long as there is a war going on.
The Supreme Court re-affirmed in Korematsu v. United States that the the exclusion order was constitutional. The decision has not been reversed.
But the 9th amendment also states "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
So follow George Takei's advice and stay actively engaged in the process. Only then can you frustrate those that try to take your rights away from you.
Well, Korematsu can't be used as a legal precedent, according to the justice department, because Charles Fahy, the solicitor general at the time supressed evidence from the courts. If the Supreme Court would've had the information that Fahy withheld, the case would have had a different outcome.
Korematsu's conviction were overturned in 1983, because the district court had faulty information, but I agree with you in one sense, because the actual decision hasn't been overturned. I think however that the court will begin to
Look to the dissents of Robert Jackson and Frank Murphy instead. You also have to keep In mind that at time of Korematsu, Brown VS Board of ed. hasn't been decided, so segregation is still the law of the land.
Kim Daniel Thorkildsen For the record Korematsu's conviction was not overturned because the exclusion order was deemed unconstitutional. Which means in theory the president can pass such an executive order today.
Are you sure? What about his civil lawsuit under "Coram nobis"?
Kim Daniel Thorkildsen As far as I can tell, it was only enough to overturn his conviction, the reason being the military lied to the government about Japanese immigrants being a security risk. Which implies no wrong would have been committed if the military was honest when they claimed the Japanese immigrants were a security risk. Unless the Supreme court overturns its own decision or Article one Secion 9 ammended, this kind of thing can happen again.
Watching this from the jail site at Tule lake. Here there is pencil on the wall that says: show me the way to go home.
its about to start again....😓
Google UNiT 731
This was very wrong!!
Yes it was. Instead of spending tax payer dollars to house potential enemies they should have been deported. But no, millions spent on treating them well, millions spent on reimbursing them after the war and even after decades of apologies that shouldn't have been given in the first place that's still not enough for them. How about just one apology from the Japanese government? We aren't even asking for money to reimburse us for them starting a stupid war and killing millions of allies, not for the horrific way they treated our POWs. Just one sorry would be nice.
I love far east movement!
Shame on us all ! In the eyes of God, we all need to grow up !
What god?
NO !Shame on White America dont lump everyone in that Inhumane Pot!
We don't need a god for us to do right things
i dont get....who started the war?....who win?.....and, why did they started the war??
What do you mean who started it? And in reality in war nobody wins
The Japanese and Germans started the war. The Germans took over parts of Europe and the Japanese marched across China slaughtering millions in the worst ways possible while performing horrific experiments on them. Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in an attempt to render the US Navy useless despite the Americans not even being in the war. Americans joined, cracked down on moving the Japanese, Germans and Italians away from the coastlines to internment camps to avoid any spies or delinquents further damaging the Navy. They were treated far better than people in camps in enemy countries. War is no game, and when several countries are trying to take over the entire world, I don't blame the Americans for interning the Japanese, Italians and German citizens to be safe.
Yet everyone leaves out the Italians and Germans when talking about it so they can try and pretend it's a race issue.
Japanese citizens were given tens of thousands of dollars which was a lot back then to reimburse the property they were forced to leave (boats etc)
Hope that clears things up.
Like I said before it actually saved a lot of Japanese-Americans lives because there was a lot of racist Prejudice ignorant bigots out there that would have killing you like they did the African Americans God bless them
#pinkwashing. What about the Palestinians in Gaza, George?
Funny how he votes for the same political party that threw him and his family into an internment camp. LOL
I think it's that thing about taking an active role in how you want things to be. Move forward, try to make things better. You can't change the past.
The same party in name only.
@@stephenwright8824no it’s the same party which applies affirmative action against Japanese/Asian Americans in school admissions.
It’s the same Democrat party which allows criminals to run loose and attack Asian Americans.
It’s the same Democrat party which allows homeless to invade Chinatowns and Japanese towns and communities all over the US.
Heck of a lot better than the alternative!
you should thank the Japanese for that.
They weren't the ones to imprison their own citizens against their own constitution
@@tanepukenga1421 Lmao. Then you obviously are very ignorant about the war if you think that.
The US didn't invent this practice, and as far an internment camps go the Japanese (and Italian/Germans, people like to leave those out because they're white and then they can't make it a race argument) were treated far better than any other internment camp I've ever heard of. They were also reimbursed plenty of money for having to spend a couple years moved away from a coastline as well. Boo hoo. When someone is trying to take over your nation it's not a game, I don't blame the Americans one bit for moving them away from the coastline. I don't think you understand the magnitude of what was happening.
Just one spy getting through could have spelled defeat.
This isn't a game. Look up what the Japanese were doing to the Chinese. If we were compromised that would have been us next. Stop feeling bad over a minute amount of Japanese being forced to basically go to glorified summer camp while their home country was set on slaughtering us like pigs. Your priorities are way out of whack. Whether you immigrate somewhere or were even born somewhere else, people still have allegiances to their native countries, especially when their culture is so insanely different from the host one.
@@tanepukenga1421 "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."
In other words, you aren't protected by OUR constitution if your country attacks our country and intends world domination. You have chosen war and you are lucky we are nicer to our rounded up than what the enemy did to ours. Go home or follow orders. If my country acted like this to a country that was nice enough to take tons of my people into, I would happily go into a rent free camp where I am unharmed until the war is over. And if I didn't like it I would go home. Be grateful the Americans and Canadians didn't act how the Japanese did.
If they did George Takei likely wouldn't exist period.
This is making a come back now with Trump camps!
I would gladly have gone through that internment camp if it meant I'd get hired to be on Star Trek years later and get paid millions for that easy job.
@Helennah Pauline Barry I'm not joking.
He liked the internment camp as well, when the war was over he and many others wanted to go back. Yet everyone acts like it was some horrible concentration camp or something. No. They just needed any people from enemy nations away from the coastlines. The kids were given schooling and life was structured. They all got paid a ton of money afterwards as well. The adults at least anyways. Do I like that it had to happen? Nope. But taking chances of any kind in a war as serious as this would have been foolish.
I know there are alot more soldiers that were treated worse than you was George & i haven't herd the Japanee's emperor or goernment apologise for that war crime
And they never will. Yet the Americans are expected to apologize over and over, despite not hurting these people and giving them tens of thousands of dollars EACH in restitution. Which was a ton of money back then. While the Japanese stil ban teaching of ww2 to students to this day and they still wear nazi regalia. And I love how everyone forgets that Italians and Germans were also interned, and the Japanese themselves had internment camps.
Nowhere close to being as humane as the ones in the US.
@@Movs. Not tens of thousands....$20,000. Big difference
He was lucky to be in USA PERIOD. It’s his own fault he stays in California
100%
Google UNIT 731
bill And that has what to do with American Citizens?
Nothing. That’s what
@@nsjx It has everything to do with it.