George Takei blasts Muslim registry as path to internment camps

George Takei.
(Image credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Alarm bells went off for many Americans on Wednesday when Carl Higbie, a spokesperson for a pro-Donald Trump super PAC, suggested the Japanese internment camps during World War II set the "precedent" for instituting a Muslim registry. Adding to mounting concerns is the fact that Trump has also refused to come down hard on the controversial moment in American history, claiming, "I would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer" about if he supports the camps.

Actor George Takei has spoken before about how he was forced at gunpoint from his home with his family when he was 5 years old and sent to live in a horse stall at a local race track, which had been hastily converted into a Japanese internment camp. On Friday he demanded that the camps never be allowed to happen again, under any excuse, in an op-ed for The Washington Post:

Let us ... agree that ethnic or religious discrimination cannot be justified by calls for greater security. During World War II, the government argued that military authorities could not distinguish between alleged enemy elements and peaceful, patriotic Japanese Americans. It concluded, therefore, that all those of Japanese descent, including American citizens, should be presumed guilty and held without charge, trial, or legal recourse, in many cases for years. The very same arguments echo today, on the assumption that a handful of presumed radical elements within the Muslim community necessitates draconian measures against the whole, all in the name of national security.It begins with profiling and with registries, but as Trump and Higbie have made clear, once the safety of the country is at stake, all safeguards are off. In their world, national security justifies actions that are "sometimes not right," and no one really can guarantee where it will end. [George Takei, via The Washington Post]

Read more about Takei's concerns and his experience in the internment camps at The Washington Post.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.