George Takei  🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽

At five years old, I couldn't grasp the concept of a scapegoat; all I understood was that, because of Japan’s aggression that pulled the United States into the war, my family and I had to leave our home at gunpoint, taking with us only what we could carry. As I got older, I understood scapegoating for what it is: a channel for hate, blame, and bigotry.

My lifelong mission has been preventing this from happening again, yet my heart aches as the LGBTQ+ community faces it now. We've fought for our rights to live, love, and be ourselves—a vibrant, misunderstood, and often mistreated rainbow of identities.

I have seen where scapegoating, if left unchallenged, leads. And it is a very dark place. This week, I chose to share my story with you in the hopes that we never repeat the heinous mistakes of the past. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/takei-scapegoating-lgbtq-japanese-internment

Takei Warns Against Scapegoating LGBTQ Community

George Takei writes about the dangers of Republican efforts to scapegoat the LGBTQ+ community, having been scapegoated along with the Japanese American community during WWII internment.

The Big Picture
Aug 17, 2023 at 3:57pmWeb
Show threadHolger FialloAug 17, 2023
@georgetakei The sad thing that it could happen again. The only thing we need is a leader like Trump. Anyone who says can not this is the 21th century, wake up and smell the coffee. It did and will due to human sheep's who will let it.
Show threadTK MajorAug 17, 2023

@georgetakei
Thank you, George. Keep up the good work and the good fight!

My first GF's family members on both sides were interned. One of my co-workers spent his teen years in a 'relocation' camp in the midwest.

This crime against American ideals and democracy touched many lives.

Show threadAndreas WielandAug 17, 2023
@georgetakei Thanks for sharing your story. It's important that people become aware what's happening. The once again increasing discrimination of LGBTIQ* may be most obvious in the US right now but it's a thing all around the globe.
Show threadThinking about Good TroubleAug 17, 2023
@georgetakei A subset of humans seem to thrive on putting down certain groups. Maybe it makes them feel important. #BeKind
Show threadRobots can be gay deal with itAug 17, 2023

@georgetakei When I was an over the road trucker, I'd often be sent to Clearwater Paper in McGhee, which isn't far fromy home terminal. That's only 7 miles away from Rohwer, and sometimes I'd have to pass by Rohwer to get there.

It's surreal that such a place existed, and shameful that it could be so close to home.

Show threadcmdenton47Aug 17, 2023
@georgetakei If there has been anything positive to come out of the Trump era it is that people who were fence sitters have had to decide where their true sympathies lie.
Show threadlolonurseAug 17, 2023
@georgetakei
How I wish you would be right, but just look around us - it's all coming back with a vengeance. All over the world! To me, it's looking scarily like a slippery slope to a new kind of Dark Ages. 💙☮️✊🏼✡️
Show threadlogicAug 18, 2023
@georgetakei
Thanks for sharing your story, George. If we do not reflect on our history, we're doomed to repeat it. And if history doesn't make one uncomfortable, it's propaganda.
Show threadPatricia LavataiAug 18, 2023
@georgetakei Thank you for posting. My first roommate was Japanese, and she shared her parent’s story with me. This is something that has been buried, not taught, and not remembered.
Until we face our past, we are not equipped to face our future.