They didn't incarcerate the Japanese-Americans in Hawaii. That's the place that was bombed. But the Japanese-American population was about 45 percent of the island of Hawaii. And if they extracted those Japanese-Americans, the economy would have collapsed. But on the mainland, we were thinly spread out up and down the West Coast.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the economic implications of the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
George Takei's quote reflects on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, particularly how the concentration of this population in Hawaii was crucial for the local economy. In contrast to the mainland where Japanese-Americans were more dispersed, Hawaii's economy relied on their presence, leading to different treatment and outcomes regarding their civil liberties during a time of war and prejudice.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions or presentations about historical injustices.
I remembered some people who lived across the street from our home as we were being taken away. When I was a teenager, I had many after-dinner conversations with my father about our internment. He told me that after we were taken away, they came to our house and took everything. We were literally stripped clean.
I'd like to think that, when I explain it, that Mr. Trump will understand marriage is defined by two people who love each other, commit to each other, and will care for each other through thick and thin.
Back in the day, coming out was something very personal. You began by acknowledging the truth, first to yourself, then to close family and friends. Those of us more in the public spotlight, though, also had to 'come out' to the press.
My father told me about American democracy. And he said you have to be actively engaged in the political process to make our democracy work. So I've been doing that my entire life. Civil rights movement. The peace movement during the Vietnam conflict. The movement to get an apology and redress for Japanese-Americans.
I'm especially concerned about the future of this country, because I'm concerned about the gay people of the future. We need to ensure their good life by registering to vote.
In many ways, my decision to come out changed the course not only of my personal life but of my professional one as well.
The whole period of the '60s changed a lot of us; there was never a decade like that in American history... to have the decade capture one of the great accomplishments of this century: man landing on the moon.
Reconstruction is the great black hole that remains to be filled. Even experts on the Civil War don't really understand its full significance.
Some of the most moving experiences I've had are just in black churches in the South, during the Civil Rights Movement, where people were getting beaten, killed, really struggling for the most elementary rights.
Slavery is nothing to joke about. The history of this nation's involvement with slavery is nothing to pass off in a joke.
Germany has spent the decades since World War II in national penance for Nazi crimes. America spent the decades after the Civil War transforming Confederate crimes into virtues. It is illegal to fly the Nazi flag in Germany. The Confederate flag is enmeshed in the state flag of Mississippi.
We must never forget that Black History is American History. The achievements of African Americans have contributed to our nation's greatness.
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