In an interview with ABC, Star Trek actor George Takei discussed Japanese internment, activism and President Trump.
Known mainly for playing Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series, Takei has since been an activist for Asian Americans.
Between ages 5 to 9, Takei was imprisoned with his family during the internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s.
Reflecting on growing up as a child in America who went through internment, Takei recalled the irony of reciitng the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I remember reciting the words, ‘With liberty and justice for all’ — innocent child — totally oblivious of the stinging irony of those words: ‘Liberty and justice for all,’” he said.
Now, the 82-year-old actor has highlighted the horrors of internment camps for in the AMC series The Terror: Infamy.
“I am hoping that there’ll come a day when enough Americans know about this history — this dark and cruel history of America — that they will not allow it to repeat itself,” he said.
Takei is also a vocal political activist and has expressed his frustration about the president.
“This president is someone who doesn’t know history, who is reckless and he is inhuman,” Takei said. “We have reached a new low with this president. … Every day is a new outrage.”
“What’s happening now on the Southern border with people who are coming here out of sheer desperation, fleeing for their lives, fleeing poverty and violence, some have seen their parents shot down in front of their eyes,” he continued. “We as children were always together with our family. My parents were always protecting us.”
The Terror: Infamy premieres 12 August.
