They Called Us Enemy

I was just randomly browsing when I came across this book and I realized I hadn't read it despite admiring George Takei as an activist and outspoken defender of civil rights. So I thought why not pick it up right away.

While it is the story of George's childhood in the Japanese internment camps in WW2, what makes this more powerful is seeing the juxtaposition between the anguish and devastation his parents feel with his and his brother's tales of adventure. He was an innocent who didn't realize that living inside a fenced camp wasn't normal and that the country where he, his siblings and his mother were born had declared them “enemy aliens” for no fault of their own except their ancestry. His memories maybe more heartwarming but he does include how humiliating it must have been for his parents and all the other 120,000 Japanese Americans who were first labeled enemies, but then asked to plead allegiance to their captors and also fight for them as soldiers. It's truly a shameful and hypocritical part of history which highlights how America has at various times in the past failed to live up to its ideals.

Despite all the horrors though, George's parents are the heroes of this story. His mother ensures her kids are safe and feel as normal as possible during all the years, even sacrificing her principles to keep the family together. His father on the other hand takes a leadership role within the camps, helping everyone else navigate that life and do whatever he can to solve their problems. I found his wisdom and strength incomparable because despite all his hardships and being treated so horrifically by his country, he never loses his faith in the guiding principles of American democracy and I can see where George got all his ideals from and why he has become such a prolific activist. What did surprise me was that Earl Warren (future Supreme Court Chief Justice) was an early instigator of prejudice against Japanese Americans and a supporter of the internment camps. I had only known him as the person whose famously known “Warren Court” was one of the most liberal ever and delivered historical judgements like Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia. FDR died before the war was over but I wonder if Warren ever regretted the choices he made during that time.

Overall, this is definitely a memoir that needs to be read, to learn about one of the dark periods of American history. The art style is simple and the content may seem may feel sanitized, but that's because it's mostly told from the POV of a child and I think that's why this makes for a perfect read for children, a way for them to know their history in an understandable manner.