Phasers Set to Stunned: Perspective in “They Called Us Enemy”
By Hannah Bub
George Takei, Star Trek star turned activist, has written a graphic memoir whose relevancy radiates off the page. “They Called Us Enemy” follows the internment of Takei’s Japanese family under Executive Order 9066, and brings the injustices of the American government to the forefront of public consciousness at a time when children are currently in cages at our borders.
The book provides sharp criticism of the American government that allowed Japanese-Americans to be labeled as the “enemy.” It equates that history with modern bans on immigration from Muslim-majority countries, saying “the court deploys the same dangerous logic underlying Korematsu” as “old outrages have begun to resurface.” Yet, the book also becomes an ode to American democracy that can’t be ignored. “But despite all that we’ve experienced, our democracy is still the best in the world, because it is a people’s democracy,” Takei’s aged father says to his teenaged son. This back-and-forth between faith in and disappointment with the government threads through Takei’s memoir, and one can see his father’s words as the catalyst for Takei’s political activism.
The true brilliance of the book, however, is the perspective from which it is told. The story is narrated by an adult Takei over a series of public speeches, ranging from TED talks to an address given in the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the same president responsible for his family’s imprisonment. Despite this adult perspective, though, it is clear that “They Called Us Enemy“ is Takei’s attempt to reckon with his childhood. He says, “Childhood memories are especially slippery. Sweet and so full of joy, they can often be a misreading of the truth…I know that I will always be haunted by the larger, vaguely remembered reality of the circumstances surrounding my childhood.” The graphic form of the book is especially effective in recalling this childhood perspective. Though black and white, the images are not heavily inked and feel light, the same way one recalls memory, through form but not exact detail. The prose is equally sparse, yet clear, similar to the way one explains difficult subject matters to a child.
Takei has had time to sit on his experiences, and has subsequently turned to a life of activism. He takes the reader on a journey through his process. Starting as a child with limited understanding of the political circumstances surrounding his family’s relocation, moving through his teenage years where he often fights with his father for “comply[ing] with something that was fundamentally wrong,” and culminating with a picture of a man who has risen through the ranks of Hollywood and celebrity, “They Called Us Enemy” is as much about living with the memory of Japanese internment as it is about the experience itself.
Hannah Bub is an English major and a captain of the Women’s Swim Team at NYU. She also has minors in American Sign Language and creative writing.