They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

They Called Us Enemy is the graphic memoir for actor/author/activist George Takei who along with his family endured imprisonment in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.

George and his younger brother, Henry are woken up during the night by their father and told to get dressed quickly. As they are packing, police come to the door and tell George's father, Takekuma Norma Takei, that under Executive Order 9066, the must leave immediately. He is given ten minutes to pack. Both George and Henry do not understand and watch their mother tearfully carry their baby sister out of the house.

George, speaking at a TEDxKyoto talk in Japan in 2014, tells the audience he was never able to forget that scene and goes on to describe what led to it and what happened afterwards. Takei tells the audience he is a veteran of the Starship Enterprise whose mission was "to explore strange new worlds, seek out new live and new civilizations...to boldly go where no one has gone before." Takei was "the grandson of immigrants who went to America. Boldly going to a strange new world."

His father, Takekuma Norman Takei, was born in Yamanshi, Japan and came to America as a teenager. He attended high school and then opened a dry-cleaning business in Los Angeles. Takei's mother, Fumiko Emily Nakamura was born in Florin, California and educated in Japan to avoid school segregation. Takekuma and Fumiko married in Los Angeles and George was born in 1937.

The Takei's had lost their first child at three months of age. They named George after King George VI of England. Henry came next, named after Henry VIII, followed by a girl they named Nancy Reiko after a beautiful woman the Takei's knew.

But on Sunday, December 7, 1941, their lives would change forever. While preparing for Christmas, the Takei family learned of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. That day, President Roosevelt signed a proclamation declaring adult Japanese citizens as "alien enemies". They would now have to follow strict regulations.

In a speech broadcast over the radio, the nation listened as Roosevelt asked Congress to declare a state of war with Japan because of the attack on the Hawaiian Islands. Earl Warren, Attorney General of California, aspiring to be Governor of California, made very racist remarks about the Japanese Americans. Because there was no evidence of Japanese spying, sabotage or fifth column activities and because the Japanese Americans are "inscrutable", they should be locked up before they do anything! The major of Los Angeles, Fletcher Bowron testified that the Japanese would always be loyal to Japan no matter how many generations have been in the United States.

The result was that on February 19, 1942, the President signed Executive Order 9066. It authorized the military to create areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." It never specifically identified "Japanese" Americans or mentioned "camps"  but it soon became obvious that it was people of Japanese heritage who were targeted.

In the spring of 1942, civilian exclusion orders were posted, ordering all Japanese living in specific districts "to report to their designated landmark for processing and removal." The bombing of Pearl Harbor had led to the U.S. Government freezing bank accounts and financial assets of Japanese Americans. George Takei's parents found their bank account frozen. With the signing of E.O. 9066, the property and business of almost all Japanese Americans was seized. Japanese farmers had their crops seized by private citizens.

Attorney General Warren was unsympathetic to their plight. Lt. General John L. Dewitt, Commander of the Western Defense Command stated that the implementation of a curfew for all people of Japanese ancestry was to prevent sabotage and fifth column activities. 

It wasn't long before George and his family were forced to leave their home. In the spring of 1942, they were taken by bus to the Santa Ana Racetrack and made to live in the stables that reeked of horse manure. It was the beginning of a journey that would see them sent by train across the country to Camp Rohwer in Arkansas, and to the notorious Camp Lake Tule. 

Discussion

 

In They Called Us Enemy, actor and author, George Takei takes readers through his family's loss of all their possessions and family business, their imprisonment in two different camps: Camp Rohwer in Arkansas and then in Camp Tule Lake, notorious for this three layers of barbed wire, machine gun towers and tanks.  He also relates how his parents were "no-no's" - Japanese Americans who responded "No-No" on the loyalty questionnaire. This mandatory questionnaire attempted to determine the loyalty of Japanese Americans the government had imprisoned. America needed soldiers and in 1943, even Japanese Americans would do. Like many Japanese Americans, George Takei's parents answered no to two questions regarding their willingness to serve in the US Armed Forces and to swear allegiance to the United States of America.

George also attempts to convey to readers how the war and imprisonment affected his parents. His parents were shocked by the conditions they were required to endure, but knew they were powerless to change things. His mother worked hard to take special care of the children, and her act of resistance was to save her beloved sewing machine! Takei's  mother was devastated to learn of the bombing of Hiroshima, where her parents lived. Reports of the destruction were incomprehensible and left many without hope for their loved ones. In the post-war period, when the Takei's had to start completely over, without any government help, they endured living first on skid row and then in rundown lodgings in Los Angeles. They were resourceful and determined.

Takei notes that many of his memories were coloured by the innocence of childhood but once the war was over and he began to grow up, the reality of what the camps were and what they represented began to become apparent. As he went through the American school system, George began to notice that American history books never mentioned the imprisonment of thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry, nor the loss of all of their possessions and businesses. There was no reflection on what had happened - after all America and its allies had won the war. But in this graphic book memoir, George Takei effectively shows that the reaction by key political figures was racist and a form of hysteria and fear that was completely unwarranted.

Takei acknowledges the major influence his father had on him especially after the war as he was growing up. Takei's father was actively involved in the camps, helping his fellow prisoners and attempting to make their lives easier. At first Takei criticized his father for what he saw as a lack of action and passivity in not standing up to the order sending them to the camps. He writes that his arrogant outburst demonstrated that he did not understand "...a man who knew the anguish of those dark internment years more intensely than that boy could ever understand. " Despite what happened, all the loss and hardship his father had endured, Takei's father was a firm believer in participatory democracy and took the time to fill in the gaps that his young son missed during those years. His belief in the American form of democracy and that people can effect change, was a huge influence on George Takei's own life.

They Called Us Enemy is important memoir for all people.  The events George Takei and his family experienced, along with thousands of fellow Japanese Americans, demonstrate what can happen when hate and racism, fueled by hysteria take hold. Prejudice against people of Asian ethnicity had existed unchecked for decades in the United States. Pearl Harbor became the catalyst for government leaders to act in ways that dehumanized an entire race of people, stripping them of their Constitutional rights. The imprisonment of over one hundred, twenty thousand Japanese Americans reminds us that these events can happen again unless we all work to counter discrimination in all forms. Takei's lesson, learned from his father, is that ordinary people working together within the framework of democracy can work to make the world a better place for all.

 

Book Details:

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions     2019

204 pp.

All We Left Behind by Danielle R. Graham

Hayden Pierce lives with his parents, and his older sister Rosalyn on Mayne Island, in British Columbia. It is August, 1941, and Hayden has volunteered to help his ma help set up the craft fair rather than work with his dad, fishing. That's because Hayden is smitten with Chidori Setoguchi and plans to ask her on a date. So instead of helping his father and Chidori's uncle Massey who are out fishing on Massey's seine boat,  Hayden has volunteered to help his ma set up the craft tables at the Mayne Island Fall Fair just so he can meet up with Chidori.

Chidori and her brothers, Tosh and Kenji are setting up their vegetables at their permanent wood stand on the fairgrounds. Mr. Setoguchi grows cucumbers and tomatoes in his greenhouses. After watching Hayden talk to Chidori, Rory Bauer and his cousin Fitz taunt him over his attraction to Chidori who is Japanese-Canadian. With tensions rising between Japan and Canada, Canadians of Japanese heritage are increasingly being targeted.

At the fair, Hayden and his friend Joey talk about the ongoing war. Hayden has no interest in signing up on his birthday. But Joey reminds him , "...the Nazis are killing innocent people and stealing power from entire countries..." In the meantime, Hayden goes down to Miner Bay to help his father and Chidori's uncle Massey unload and sell their catch of chinook salmon. Afterwards, Hayden meets Chidori at her house and they row to Georgeson Island in her rowboat. She tells Hayden that she's been accepted to study at the University of British Columbia but that she's not going. She doesn't want to waste her father's money or her time when she's uncertain about what to study, and she believes the war will also change many things. At this time Hayden asks Chidori to go steady with him. She initially accepts but on their way home, another confrontation with the Bauers causes her to withdraw her acceptance, devastating Hayden.

At church on Sunday, Hayden confronts Chidori, but she doesn't know what to do. There are reports that an Member of Parliament wants all Japanese stripped of their Canadian citizenship and returned to Japan. Days later, Hayden's sister, Rose leaves Mayne Island to start her nursing job in Vancouver. Rose is engaged to Earl who is a pilot stationed over in England. Chidori, and her brothers Tosh and Kenji are also at the pier, delivering a shipment of tomatoes to the Princess Mary steamship. Chidori hugs Rose but she and Hayden do not speak. 

The next time Hayden sees Chidori is at a fundraiser for the Red Cross at the Agricultural Hall. Hayden once again confronts Chidori, giving her a gift and begging her to reconsider. She agrees. At their next meeting, Chidori reveals that the dean at the University of British Columbia has written her, asking her to reconsider her decision not to attend and offering her a full scholarship for every year of her degree. However, Chidori tells Hayden that she is going to wait and see what happens with the war.

On the Thursday before Halloween, 1941, Hayden is invited to tea at the Setoguchi home. He and Chidori plan to attend the Halloween dance as Raggedy Ann and Andy. At tea, Tosh jokingly asks Hayden what his intentions are towards Chidori. Hayden tells Mr. Setoguchi that he plans to date her and hopes eventually to court and marry Chidori. But Mr. Setoguchi refuses to give Hayden permission or his blessing. Later that night, Chidori goes missing. Hayden, his father and Chidori's family go looking for her, but it is Hayden who finds her stranded on Georgeson Island.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, things turn ugly fast. Uncle Massey is arrested along with Kenji's girlfriend Michiko and her family. Eight days later, Massey's boat along with the boats of the entire Japanese-Canadians are impounded. Chidori tells Hayden that it is likely her family along with all the other Japanese-Canadians will be forced into work camps in the interior of the province. By February, 1942, the Canadian government orders all Japanese Canadians to leave the coastal areas on April 21.

In an attempt to protect Chidori, Hayden asks her to marry him, which she accepts. However on April 21, Chidori, along with her family are evacuated inland. The day only gets worse when a letter from Rose reveals that her fiance, Earl was shot fleeing into the woods after parachuting out of his airplane. With the war now on their doorstep, Hayden wonders if he will ever see Chidori again. But maybe enlisting and working towards ending that war will help shorten their painful separation and bring all those they left behind together once again.

Discussion

All We Left Behind is a poignant, heart-breaking novel about war, racism and forbidden love. The story is told from the point of view of Hayden Pierce, as he struggles to deal with the unraveling of his life, his hopes and dreams, as war overtakes ordinary life. Chidori's point of view is expressed in her journal entries as she too tries to process what is happening to her family, and watches as her dreams of attending school and her marrying Hayden are all disrupted. 

Graham was inspired to write the novel while working on a "psychology master's paper on the intergenerational impact of the internment on Japanese Canadians."  The novel effectively portrays the racism already rampant in Canada against Japanese-Canadians prior to and during the early part of World War II, while also capturing the effects of war on those left behind. 

Graham demonstrates how racist attitudes and fear of those who are different were very prevalent in  early 20th century Canada. The racist attitudes of ordinary people are exemplified by Hayden's mother who believes Chidori is not a suitable woman for her son Hayden to marry simply because she is Japanese. She has no answer to Hayden's challenges and brushes off his arguments as him not understanding the world. 

Graham also shows how these attitudes informed Canadian government actions and policies, which were often illegal. Government officials assumed that anyone of Japanese heritage was a potential traitor, even those who had been born in Canada. This fear often led to irrational policies such confiscating radios and cameras. Chidori, writing in her journal, notes that her research has shown her that "...the Canadian government can't intern Canadian citizens who have been convicted of no crime. It violates the Geneva Convention and is illegal for a country's government to do so. But then I noticed that the newspaper articles have carefully not used the word internment. They call it an evacuation or detainment, presumably to skirt the Geneva Convention." As the war progresses, government actions grow more extreme and harmful. The land and possessions of those families in internment camps is sold off by the government, often at very reduced rates. In the end, the Setoguchi family, like most other Japanese Canadians, lose almost all their possessions. Many never returned to the East Coast and many were never compensated for their possessions.

Hayden's solution to solving the situation with Chidori is to enlist and help bring an end to the war, thus facilitating Chidori and her family's return to Mayne Island. However, when he becomes a prisoner of war, he has to cope with the most horrific conditions and it is only his faith in a future with Chidori that helps him to survive. The three long years in prison, as well as the loss of his beloved sister Rose, leaves Hayden with little hope. Ironically, it is a young Jewish orphan, Marguerite, now living in Chidori's old home, who tells Hayden, "I know your kind of sad. The one that haunts you." that ultimately helps him, encouraging him to find Chidori.

Despite its intensity, All We Left Behind leaves readers with the happy ending they yearn for. This is a novel that is suitable for older teens due to the more mature content. Well-written, All We Left Behind leaves readers with a sense of the immense injustice done to Canadians of Japanese heritage during the Second World War as well as the realities of war.

Book Details:

All We Left Behind by Danielle R. Graham
London, UK: One More Chapter       202
352 pp.