George Takei remembers his history in Japanese American internment camps

George Takei talks to 94.7 The Wave on Audacy

MAY 25, 2021 - As the United States marks Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month during May, George Takei spoke about his family’s harrowing experiences during World War II in a new interview with 94.7 The Wave in L.A., on the audio network Audacy. 

Takei, who grew up in California, spoke passionately about how difficult it was to be a Japanese family in the United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and he shared personal memories of the backlash against Japanese Americans that followed.

“They started spitting at us on the sidewalk, insulting us, assaulting us,” he told The Wave, noting a parallel with current experiences of Asian-American violence. “The government leaders were led by mass hysteria,” he continued, offering recollections of curfews, frozen bank accounts, and destruction of personal property. Takei spoke with notable heartache as he told of Japanese Americans being rounded up and sent to internment camps without charges or trial, and shared his own memories of that event.

“My brother and I were just gazing out the front window, out at the neighborhood, and suddenly we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway. […] In the United States of America, in Los Angeles, California [...] soldiers pointed guns with bayonets on them at us and ordered us out of our home.”

“I will never, ever be able to forget that terrible morning,” he said.

Takei went on to tell of his desire to raise awareness of this dark chapter of American history, and spoke about projects that seek to do just that. He himself has written two books about his experiences. His latest, a graphic memoir entitled They Called Us Enemy, was re-released last year in an expanded edition and can be ordered from bookshop.org, amazon.com, or wherever you get your books.