George Takei, an actor who starred on STAR TREK, co-authored this graphic novel about his childhood in internment camps during World War 2. Although it has much in common with CLARK AND DIVISION (Naomi Hirahara) it also is an individual story that is different from hers. I am always surprised at how the Japanese people in California were so ill-treated for such a long time. Most of them were a generation or two into American life and many were citizens. None of this made much of a difference in what their four years on internment were like. This is a YA book, but so much of it was new to me so I didn't mind that. We have much to apologize for in our history.
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And, sadly, we have much to apologize for in our present.
We do, indeed, Patti. I've always liked George Takei, and he has done, I think, a fine job of sharing the stories of what happened to him, and what that means for us as a people.
George Takei tells what it was like for the US Government to send innocent people to interment camps. History repeats itself as our Government is currently building more such camps today. Some lessons are never learned...
And I am fearful today's camps are harsher than that era's.
It seems possible that the current regime might be pushed back a peg if not brought down before attempted new concentration camps are operational Damn sure needs to be probable. My German-American Honolulu HS homeroom/AP Bio teacher was in a US camp (as his parents were German immigrants on the East Coast) for some of WW2 as a child. In both my parents' families, some ethnicities might well've apologized to others, but actively working to make sure these casual monsters don't come to power again might be a better use of our time. And they can spend some time in their camps, if anyone does.
An earlier view of this period is in the film " A bad day at Black Rock". Still relevant.
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