Actor George Takei Speaks on Trump's Inhumane Child Separation Policy

We don't always repost other people's articles here. But for this troubling subject that has plunged this county into the deepest moral crisis since 1942, we thought we would share the words of Japanese-American Actor George Takei of Star Trek fame who at five years old, was thrown into an Internment Camp in one of America's most shameful chaptyers of our history. A history that we are repeating through the shameful actions of Donald Trump and his racist policies of kidnapping children from their mothers. - Take it away George!

‘At Least During the Internment …’ 

Are Words I Thought I’d Never Utter

I was sent to a camp at just five years old — but even then, they didn't separate children from families. - George Takei

Imagine this scene: Tens of thousands of people, mostly families with children, are labeled by the government as a threat to our nation, used as political tools by opportunistic politicians, and caught in a vast gray zone where their civil and human rights are erased by the presumption of universal guilt. Thousands are moved around to makeshift detention centers and sites, where camps are thrown together with more regard to the bottom line than the humanity of the new residents. 

That is America today, at our southern border, which asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants alike are seeking to cross. But it is also America in late 1941, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, when overnight my community, my family, and I became the enemy because we happened to look like those who had dropped the bombs. And yet, in one core, horrifying way this is worse. At least during the internment of Japanese-Americans, I and other children were not stripped from our parents. We were not pulled screaming from our mothers’ arms. We were not left to change the diapers of younger children by ourselves.

Photos of children in cages and camps today so strongly evoke the wartime past that former First Lady Laura Bush drew a stark parallel in an op-ed in the Washington Post. “These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history,” Bush wrote. She reminded us that there are dark consequences to such camps for their residents: “This treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned.” 

When a government acts capriciously, especially against a powerless and much-reviled group, it is hard to describe the terror and anxiety. There is nowhere to turn, because the only people with the power to help have trained their guns and dogs upon you. You are without rights, held without charge or trial. The world is upside down, information-less, and indifferent or even hostile to your plight.
And yet, with hideous irony, I can still say, “At least during the internment …”

At least during the internment, when I was just five years old, I was not taken from my parents. My family was sent to a racetrack for several weeks to live in a horse stall, but at least we had each other. At least during the internment, my parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances. They told us we were “going on a vacation to live with the horsies.” And when we got to Rohwer camp, they again put themselves between us and the horror, so that we would never fully appreciate the grim reality of the mosquito-infested swamp into which we had been thrown. At least during the internment, we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul. 

I cannot for a moment imagine what my childhood would have been like had I been thrown into a camp without my parents. That this is happening today fills me with both rage and grief: rage toward a failed political leadership who appear to have lost even their most basic humanity, and a profound grief for the families affected.

How do political leaders convince themselves of the virtues of such a policy? History shows it doesn’t take much. After Japan dropped its bombs, the political scapegoats were obvious. As America geared up for war, the administration needed some way to show that it was being tough on Japan, as it had little military success at the early going to trot out. Being tough on Japan easily translated into being tough on the Japanese here in America. No matter that most of us weren’t even Japanese nationals; nearly two-thirds of those imprisoned were U.S. citizens, after all. But as the Wartime Relocation Authority made clear, “a Jap is a Jap.” That was their own “zero-tolerance” policy.

But how to justify the sweeping internment of 120,000 people, when none of us had actually done anything wrong? It was Earl Warren — the same man who as chief justice would forge a famously liberal Supreme Court — who helped move that along. Warren was the attorney general for the state of California at the time, and he had designs on the governorship, which he won in late in 1942. Warren took the absence of evidence of sabotage or spying on the West Coast by any Japanese-American as justification to declare that this was evidence that we must be planning something truly hidden and deeply sinister. 

It was a lie, and a big one, but it was one repeated enough, and said with enough conviction, that rest of the country went along with it. We were the murderers, the thugs, the animals then — and since you couldn’t tell the good from the bad, you might as well round up everyone in the name of national security.

Whenever I draw parallels between today’s border actions and the internment camps of World War II, I am flooded with comments “reminding me” that it was a Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who signed Executive Order 9066 and set the internment into motion. This only underscores my point, however: The United States’ flirtation with authoritarianism is not tied to any political party. Even people of good heart and conscience can be swept up in the frenzy. Earl Warren was a Republican, and while he ultimately came to view his role in the internment to be one of his greatest follies, at the time neither he nor others in government — with rare exceptions, like Ralph Carr, the governor of Colorado — saw anything wrong with what he’d done.

But unless we act now, we will have failed to learn at all from our past mistakes. Once again, we are flinging ourselves into a world of camps and fences and racist imagery — and lies just big enough to stick. There are at least two big lies right now. The first is that there’s a law on the books passed by the Democrats, and that the Justice Department has no choice but to enforce it. This lie passes the buck and confuses the public, offering a diversionary talking point to dutiful lieutenants willing to toe the White House line. Like FDR, Trump has wide latitude in setting the priorities of law enforcement, and there is no law that says we must have “zero tolerance” for children at our borders, just as there was nothing that said all persons of Japanese descent, even children within orphanages, were to be rounded up and relocated.

The second lie is that those at our borders are criminals, and therefore deserve no rights. But the asylum-seekers at our borders are breaking no laws at all, nor are their children who accompany them. The broad brush of “criminal” today raises echoes of the wartime “enemy” to my ears. Once painted, both marks are impossible to wash off. Trump prepared his followers for this day long ago, when he began to dehumanize Mexican migrants as drug dealers, rapists, murderers, and animals. Animals might belong in cages. Humans don’t.

I wish that those, like me, who lived through this nightmare before didn’t have to sound the alarm again. But as my father once told me, America is a great nation but also a fallible one — as prone to great mistakes as are the people who inhabit it. As a survivor of internment camps, I have made it my lifelong mission to work against them being built ever again within our borders. 

Although the first camps for border crossers have been built, and are now filling up with innocent children, we have a chance to ensure history does not repeat itself in full, to demonstrate that we have learned from our past and to stand firmly against our worse natures. The internment happened because of fear and hatred, but also because of a failure of political leadership. In 1941, there were few politicians who dared stand up to the internment order. I am hopeful that today there will, should be, must be, far more people who speak up, both among our leaders and the public, and that the future writes the history of our resistance — not, yet again, of our compliance.

Kimono in LA: An Interview with the Suehiro Kimono Agency

When most people in America think of Kimono, one conjures up romantic images of Geisha and Samurai films from an era long past. But what many people outside of Japan may not know is that Kimono is still fashionable in this modern era and you can find Kimono right here in Los Angeles. So when we were initially inspired to write an article on Kimono in LA after seeing the gorgeous displays at the Japan Foundation on Wilshire Blvd, we sought to learn directly from the very people who made these displays possible. To do that we contacted the Suehiro Kimono Agency and were we in for a treat! 

Hidden away in an unassuming North Hollywood neighborhood is one of Hollywood’s best kept secrets. If you have a production be it film, theater, or commercial, or simply the need to rent an authentic kimono for a special occasion with full dressing and not look like you’re wearing some tourist robe you found at a gift shop, then this is the place to be. Founded in 2010 by Kimono Master & Designer Ms. Sueko Oshimoto and her partner Mr. Kentaro Terauchi, the Kimono Agency (as it is known for short) welcomes all who seek to learn about Kimono and the wide array of services they provide. So when we sat down with Kentaro and Ms. Oshimoto in their studio, we asked them to tell us about their business and what we can learn from them.

AM:  Our first curious question goes to Mr. Terauchi: What inspired you to go into the Kimono business in a country not known for Kimono?

KT:  (Big Smiles) I started when I met Sueko when she first graduated Kimono Dressing School. I helped her as an event coordinator. So I met her and saw these beautiful ladies in the ceremony I thought this would be a good business in the United States because American people love beautiful stuff so I decided to join her business.

AM: On a philosophical level, what would you say Kimono means to you:

KT: Kimono it has become my life. I found this to be so beautiful; I wanted to introduce this to everybody.

SO: Kimono means everything to me because I grew up with Kimono in Japan. I went on to get a license and then onto teaching Kimono & culture. So for me, it is everything.

AM: Have you found it difficult to continue Old Kimono traditions with the changing times?

SO: Hmm, it is different right now with the generations changing. In my mother’s time they wore Kimono every day. In my family we grew up wearing Kimono for ceremonies such as Obon, Sichi-Go-San, New Years Oshugatsu, and celebrating twenty years to turn to adulthood Seijinshiki but it is different today.

AM: So could you tell a little about the services you provide?

KT: We provide Kimono Costume Design for film, television, theater, private parties, as well as red carpet events. Sueko is a costume designer who does fashion styling for fashion magazines for Italy, Germany, and Japan. We also do photography for Japanese Special Occasion, Japanese Wedding, for Japanese and American people too. 

SO: We also do Kimono dressing which people do come to us because the Obi requires a special technique so we have a lot of knowledge for this.

AM: Do you also get involved with hairstyle or say Edo Period Wigs?

SO: Oh yes we do. For example, this coming April we are doing an Edo Period Stage Play “Burai – Standing All Alone,” so we are making what the play needs for the Edo Period. We have studied many different Kimono styles for the different periods such as the Edo Period, Meiji Period, Heisei and so on.

AM: What would you say is your favorite historical period for Kimono?

SO: I would say Edo Period. I like it especially the women’s clothes but these days there are more different styles which I like too. All the Shokunin (Artisans) or designers who drew the Kimono designs on the material are different. I love it and now the new styles are more modern styles. Same pictures but different because it is for different people, different generation.

AM: Where does most of your Kimono come from?

SO: From Japan, particularly Kyoto, Kumamoto, & Tokyo. Kimono today is not so worn by the newer generation because it is expensive. You know everything is expensive.

AM: What could you tell us about your Kimono Dressing School?

SO: I teach people how to wear Kimono. You see when one wears Kimono it’s like a scale of one through ten because there are many ways to wear Kimono. There are age differences, formal Kimono, and little details we change. For newer generations we teach them traditional Japanese Kimono. How to wear Kimono in the traditional way and then they wear and eventually get a teaching degree which means they get the license from Japan.

AM: So essentially a person could learn from you and take an exam and get a teaching degree without having to go to Japan?

SO: Yes. We call the Master in Japan and they fly out to administer the final exam. If they pass the final exam they can get the license.

KT: Also, she is the only person who can give out the National Certification to somebody here in the United States.

AM: We curious to ask you about the Kimono styles based on age groups. We noticed that children’s Kimono become more colorful as they get older up to age 20 and then they become more subdued with age.

SO: Yes it is a traditional style change little by little with each year.

AM: Kind of like a colorful flower that blooms then slowly fades?

SO: Yes.

AM: Earlier, Mr. Terauchi mentioned rentals for special occasions. For example, this year our child will be doing her first Sichi-Go-San. As first time parents looking to rent a Kimono for such an occasion, what do you offer?

SO: For each parent it is different. If they come to us, we do the hair up, we put on the Kimono of the parents choosing. The girls celebrate at ages 3 and 7. The boys celebrate age 5. 

AM: And for Men’s Kimono?

SO: Kentaro helps me and he also wears Kimono. With the new generations changing we do carry traditional and modern styles. We also have styles as seen from period movies.

AM: So what recent films or commercials can we see your Kimono in?

KT: We did one commercial for Fuji Natural Foods that is aired on Telemundo Channel 52 which features a modern styled Kimono. 

SO: We also did one for Taco Bell as well as a UTB promo for the play we are sponsoring “Burai – Standing All Alone” which features traditional Kimono.

SO: We make many different styles but we do what our clients ask us to do so if they don’t want traditional styles we make them modern styles.

AM: Can you name some of your more prominent past or current clients?

SO: Miranda Kerr for a Japanese commercial, George Takei, Jon Perry, and Susan Hirasuna.

{Seen here is George Takei with Ms. Oshimoto & Kentaro Terauchi}

 

AM: Do you see a growing interest in Kimono outside of Japan?

SO: It’s interesting. We work with lots of photographers and people who are not looking for traditional Kimono but like to use traditional Kimono in different ways. In Japan right now they celebrate girls 20 years and weddings. Some of the people wear traditional Kimono but some of the people wear Kimono untraditionally. It’s more like a modern style. I don’t know right now with new generations styles changing. For me, if you don’t wear any kind of Kimono then forget it. It doesn’t matter if you are modern style or traditional style, the need to wear is more important. As they get older they wear more traditional style. So I think in Japan people are not wearing as much because it is so expensive but everybody is different old and now. 

AM: For our last question we would like to ask how do you see or could you see Kimono as a connection to Japan’s rich cultural history?

SO: Culture as you know, you have to have it because this is our culture going from generation to generation. We still take history and learn about it be it movie or Jidaigeki Drama. We still do that and people know that but generations are changing and they forgot about it. But when they get old they return back to old culture. But Oiran (courtesan – prostitute style), Geisha, also the Hanayome (bride) they all look the same almost but big difference. The Oiran always wear the colorful Kimono because they are prostitutes from a long time ago with the big Obi tied in the front. Now in Japan people want to wear the Oiran Kimono because they don’t know what it means. They are drawn to the elaborate look and see it looks beautiful so they like to wear it. Even the girl celebrating the 20 year celebration want to wear the Oiran but Oiran is Oiran (shakes head)! You can’t wear that for a wedding yet people want it.

AM: Any last thing you would like our readers to know?

KT: We like to show you beautiful Kimono that nobody wears in Japan these days due to cost that is why we make modern costume which foreign people like to wear.

SO: We like to make easy to wear because our traditional wear we have to help you with the under garments then the outer sash then all the different layers. The modern style allows more flexibility. So if you do not have all the traditional items you cannot wear that style of Kimono. If you just want to wear it on top and tie it off, it’s ok. That is modern style like a robe. So that’s why we make an easier way to wear Kimono which is a more traditional but easier.

AM: Domo Arigatou’ Gozaimasu!

Every month you can see one of their Kimono on display at the Japan Foundation on Wilshire. You can also visit their blog on their company website to see the latest Kimono displays.

For all your Kimono inquiries, questions, rentals, or services. Please visit the Suehiro Kimono Agency - You'll be happy you did!