They Called Us Enemy

In this graphic nonfiction volume, we have the story of how George Takei (of Star Trek fame) and his family were imprisoned in the internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II, when he was a child. As I read, I alternated between outrage at the overtly racist nature of the internment -- all that garbage that claimed the Japanese were "inscrutable" and as a race couldn't be trusted -- and my admiration for the Takei family.

How could this happen in America?

I found the telling just a little bit disjointed as it moved between what happened in the 1940's and Takei later recounting the events. But I think those changes of perspective were necessary so that the adult Takei could reflect on what he experienced as a child. One show more thing that was really touching was how George Takei discussed how his perspective as a child when they were taken prisoner affected how he perceived, reacted to, and later remembered events during their time in the camps.

This book should be required reading for every high school student in the U.S. Seriously! show less

George Takei is a man of many talents: activist, actor, meme creator, and now, at age 82, graphic novel writer. Who would have known in 1968 that Mr. Sulu would have had such legs?

Mr. Takei’s life, of course, began before Star Trek, and continued after it. They Called Us Enemy is about his experience in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. In case you are not familiar with this episode in American history, you can read about it here. Internment was not acknowledged as a violation of human rights or even discussed much in the decades from the end of WWII to the 1980s, when, as detailed in the book, President Reagan issued a formal apology from the United States Government to the survivors. I only learned about it in a PBS show more documentary from the late 1970s. As a teen, it blew me away. It was the second time I realized the unjust and grave mistakes the United States Government made in the past. (The first was slavery.)

Takei and his two co-authors are given a strong boost by the subtle, gentle artwork of Harmony Becker. Which was a good choice, as it is the Takei family’s story, not just George’s, who was 5 at the time. It affected all of them. In all the illustrations they are always doing something together, and George shares the stage with his brother Henry, dad Takekuma, and mom Fumiko. Even little sister Nancy Reiko, though a baby when the story starts, plays a part: we see her growing up and learning to walk. She too is present and reminds us she will also be affected by this experience.

Though the illustrations were at times sparse I want to commend the artist for doing her research into the vehicles and uniforms of the time. The soldiers in the camps, for example, wear old WWI style uniforms that had been mothballed, rather than the newer get ups used by soldiers in the Pacific and European arenas. And there was subtle, delicate individuality between the characters to show they were not faceless masses.

As befitting the topic, the artwork also had a gentle, old-fashioned manga feel.

The story also went into details I did not know about internment: that was FDR who signed the bill (implied in the novel to have been pressured by several hot-blooded and anti-Asian senators) and that there was an amendment later to allow the entry of Nisei soldiers to fight as American soldiers in WWII which was problematic for its disrespectful language and attitude. (You’ll have to read the book.) Also, that many of those imprisoned Japanese Americans lost everything: houses, farms, their businesses and means of making a living. When they came out of the camps they had to start completely over. In my state of Washington local history tells us these tales.

In all, five stars, and much recommended. show less

The Publisher Says: A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -- and America itself -- in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.

George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his captivating stage presence and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father's -- and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future.

In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese show more descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten "relocation centers," hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.

They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.

What is American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.

THIS WAS AN INTER–LIBRARY LOAN FROM MY LOCAL LIBRARY. THANKS, Y'ALL!

My Review: A graphic memoir? Me? And give it five stars?!? Never. Will not happen.

Yet here we are:

The horror of interning United States citizens based solely on the color of their skins!

Oh wait...we do that now..."interning" being synonymous with "incarcerating"...well, anyway, it's appalling and abominable. The Takei family is rousted out of their Los Angeles home by Executive Order 9066. They're shipped as far away from the Pacific Ocean as they can get: The Great State of Arkansas! *shudder* A swampy bit, as well...the Takeis weren't familiar with the climate, hot and humid summers with cold and snowy winters; the worst of all possible worlds for Mediterranean-climate natives!

George, brother Henry, and sister Nancy are lucky, however, as their father is a take-charge kind of a guy with a glad-handing streak as well as organizational capabilities, patience in abundance, and a generous heart. Mama Takei is sure her family will be okay despite everything because she is going to by-god *make* things okay. Her efforts to clothe and entertain her family, her strenuous work ethic keeping the children clean and as healthy as she can, mean that they're better off than many...so the Takeis help them. Because of course...those with nothing find a way to share with those who have even less.

There were good times as well as bad. Takei senior, as a helpful and useful inmate, got the family occasional privileges, like the use of a Jeep for a day out:

Not everyone in Arkansas thought the Japanese belonged in the camps. Not everyone in the US agreed with this vile act, this blot on the national escutcheon.

But tell that to the men who were young and patriotic enough to want to serve their country in the global war against fascism.

Their mistreatment at the hands of the democratic institutions designed to defend a citizen's life, liberty, and ability to pursue an existence that will make them happy radicalized them, leading to protests and horrors of oppression still worse than internment at Federal penitentiaries.

The tale ends, as we all know, when the war is over...but the country's wounds aren't healed so much as papered over. Now the returning African Americans, veterans and war workers, would need to gain civil rights...and there were injustices against the Japanese Americans unaddressed...and so on and so forth, to this good day, with others now in the victim role. Takei specifically draws parallels with the Muslim refugee crisis and the Hispanic emigration atrocities. He lived it. His voice carries authority: What we-the-people are allowing, even (I am nauseated to say) enjoying, to occur to Hispanic families is unconscionable, inexcusable, and proof that the lessons of history are lost on far too many of us.

Takei's journey took him into our living rooms on Star Trek: The Original Series, and its many sequels. He's spent his many years since riding that amazing introduction back into our lives advocating for positive social changes and fairer, more equal access to the USA's immense and unprecedented benefits for all. His life has been very well-lived and spent generously working to bring the American Dream into reality, only for *all* Americans.

Be like George, as the meme says.

(Only I like this one better.) show less

The book opens on four-year-old George and his younger brother waking up suddenly when their father comes and tells them to pack their things. Soldiers have arrived to detain them for the crime of being Japanese. George, now in his 80's, does his best to bring the audience on his trip down memory lane, recalling fond memories (such as the time Santa Claus came to the camp on Christmas Eve) and moments of crippling fear (when a riot broke out in the camps, finding young George in the center of a violent mob). This stunning graphic memoir confronts a very difficult topic through the eyes of a child and helps the reader to experience the trying time that shaped George into the man, and icon, that he is today.
This compelling, heartfelt show more book is a very quick read that manages to cover a lot of profound topics, including racism, courage, loyalty, and love. It's a great first-hand account of a point in American history that isn't written about much, especially for teen audiences. Through a series of flash-forwards, the author does a great job of showing how the events of the 1940's mirror what happened to certain communities during the "Muslim ban" of recent years. This story does a great job of demonstrating why what happened can never be allowed to happen again show less

I doubt a book about immigrants and children of immigrants being snatched from their homes and placed in camps with awful conditions could possibly be more timely than it is right now. George Takei was one of those children. His father was born in Japan and his mother was a US citizen born in CA, but that did not matter. After Pearl Harbor no one of Japanese heritage was safe.

At first I questioned the logic of telling this story via a graphic novel, but I was not far into it when I realized what I brilliant idea it was. It's a perfect medium to capture both the innocence and horror of a child facing such an awful time. He was so young that he and his little brother thought it was a great adventure until they were hungry and cold, or show more stuck in a swampy camp down South.

George and his family were incarcerated for four long years. They lost their family cleaning business and their home and had to start from scratch when they were finally released. They were forced to live on the street for a while, as were thousands of others. I would have thought this was incomprehensible behavior by the federal government, but now I know better.

Highly recommended if you can handle it. show less

It's almost unfathomable that a history that involved over 120,000 people could've at one point been so hidden or glossed over in a country's history. Almost.

The legalised racism, the forcible removable of families from their homes, the long-term imprisonment in remote areas (concentration camps, for short) - it surely cannot happen here? Or now that it had, surely it won't happen again?

He aquí las memorias de George Takei (más conocido por su papel en la popular serie Star trek) en formato novela gráfica. Con una característica particular: no se enfocan en su vida como estrella de la pantalla, sino en su años como "internado" (según la denominación de la época) en dos campos de concentración para japoneses en Estados Unidos.

Me resulta sumamente grato que esta parte nefasta de la historia se vaya dando a conocer. No son muchos los que han oído acerca de este episodio fuera de los Estados Unidos de América, incluso varios de sus más acérrimos detractores lo ignoran. Añade a mi beneplácito el hecho de venir de una figura pública bastante apreciada en ese país (y, hay que decirlo, parte de una de sus show more franquicias más exitosas).

Al depender de alguien que sufrió tal humillación de primera mano, se corre el riesgo de caer en la victimización excesiva. Pero no es el caso; se trata de una obra muy bien lograda, sumamente realista, en la que se pasa de los juegos de niños de Takei y sus hermanos a las (terribles) decisiones políticas del gobierno estadounidense y sus repercusiones en la vida cotidiana de los nisei en un par de paneles. Las vicisitudes, el desprecio y malos tratos que deben soportar (a pesar de ser la mayoría ciudadanos de los EE.UU.) y los pequeños logros y progresos, todo tiene su lugar en esta novela gráfica.

Sobre el final hay cierta bajada de línea que, si bien coincide con el carácter activista de Takei, no me parece del todo congruente con el resto de la narración. Sin embargo, no alcanza a mancillarla en absoluto. No puedo dejar de recomendarlo. show less