Actor George Takei, our Japanese brother from another mother, has recorded a special message for his Latino fans and friends concerning the hateful rhetoric used by Donald Trump and others.
And as if Latinos didn’t adore him enough already, in the video, George, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, speaks better Spanish than at least one writer at Gozamos. “Many don’t know that I speak and understand Spanish,” George writes on Facebook. “In fact, I grew up with many Mexican American neighbors in LA”:
“I want to give some personal, historical perspective on how Donald Trump’s words and plans can have very real and terrible consequences. When I was a little boy, politicians used fear and racism against people of Japanese descent in this country. We were targets simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. They said we were all spies and saboteurs, that none of us could be trusted. When Trump says today that Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers, it’s his way of similarly dehumanizing whole groups, so that he can set his plans in motion.”
George recalls how “anti-Japanese hysteria” led to the internment of him and his family, along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans, during the Second World War. “I still remember the day armed guards marched up our driveway with bayonets, ordering us out of our home,” he says. “I remember my mother’s tears as we took with us only what we could carry and lost all we had worked so hard for.”
Le enviamos nuestros saludos más afectuosos, Señor Takei! We stand in solidarity with oppressed minorities of all backgrounds.
“Live long and prosper!”