This was a letter to my 18 year old daughter who is on the adventure of her life, pursuing her heart’s desire, studying in Japan. We told her that we were going to see George Takei at the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. You may know UMSL as Ferguson, Missouri’s neighbor. Via Skype she asked, “what’s he going to say?” I said I would tell her afterwards and here is my letter to her (forgive errors, factual or otherwise):
Dear E***,
So we saw him at UMSL last Thursday. Your mother and I have been in a deep funk since the election and seeing him was like a ray of light and hope. Here's what he talked about.
He first talked about how much he liked the architecture of St. Louis, especially the older buildings like Union Station. He went to the Arch and talked a guard into letting him go up the emergency stairs rather than taking the "ferris wheel rabbit cages" to the top. The guard recognized him as "Sulu" and said "Normally, nobody is allowed. I'll make an exception for you." Takei at the age of 80 still runs marathons and is in great shape. He said he had to pretend he was getting tired to the guard ("a portly gentleman") so the guy could catch his breath.
Next, he recounted his time with Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek as an amazing journey. Roddenberry intentionally focused on a future where diversity was the norm, and coined the phrase "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" or IDIC. Later in his talk Mr. Takei described his wedding to his current husband and companion for the last 30 years, Brad Altman (who received loud cheers and an ovation as he was pointed out in the audience). The priest was Mexican (and a Buddhist), Walter Koenig, child of European Jews was his Best Man, Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) who is of African and Cherokee heritage was supposed to be the Matron of Honor. She said, "George, I am NOT a matron. If Walter can be Best Man, I want to be Best Woman." And George said, "ok!" Brad Altman is of Scottish heritage so there was a bagpiper to play at the ceremony. Mr. Takei described the wedding as living up to the ideals of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
He then spent some time talking about his family and how traumatic it was when the police game (he was five years old), pounded on the door, and told them they were being sent to a concentration camp for "enemy aliens" and how he went to school and recited the Pledge of Allegiance while looking out the window of the school at the barb wire fences and guard posts with machine guns.
He was probably the most passionate when he recounted about the young Japanese American men in the camps who were required to sign a pledge to "renounce the Emperor." The problem with that is since they didn't recognize the Emperor of Japan in the first place (they'd all been born and raised in the United States and were as American as everyone - except for their faces "which looked liked the faces of the men who bombed Pearl Harbor.") Signing a document that renounced him was admitting that they held allegiance to him in the first place. It was a no win situation. The men who did not sign the pledge were accused of draft evasion and sent to prison. This is even though nobody was drafting them, and they weren't allowed to voluntarily join at that time. It was later that the Japanese Americans were allowed to join the military and were all segregated into three different units, one of which, the 442 Regimental Combat Team which served in Europe, became the most decorated unit in the war, and suffered the highest number of casualties of any unit. Mr. Takei considers those who refused to sign the repudiation of the Emperor pledge and who were sent to prison for "draft evasion" as forgotten heroes.
Next, he began recounting how it was like to find out he was "different" than the other boys. He basically learned, like a lot of gay men of his generation, to pass as being macho straight. As he got older he realized he wasn't alone, but stayed in the closet out of fear of losing his job as an actor. He sounded very regretful that he didn't step up at that time, again, fearing he would lose acting jobs.
In 2005, the California legislature passed a marriage equality act. Governor Schwarzenegger who had publicly stated "I'm from Hollywood, I work with gay people all the time" nonetheless vetoed the legislation. It was then, out of pride and anger, George Takei came out of the closet.
By 2008 the California Supreme Court had ruled that prohibiting gay marriage was unconstitutional, and George Takei and Brad Altman were married.
There were several questions at the end of the talk. The most interesting one regarded the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Takei's grandparents were born in Japan (his father was born in the US as was third generation American George). Sensing the upcoming war, the grandparents and several aunts and cousins all moved back to Japan to settle in their hometown, Hiroshima. They built a house on the far side of an adjacent mountain to the city. When the bomb hit, one of George Takei's aunts (his mother's sister) and a cousin whom he'd never met were downtown and were killed in the blast. Mr. Takei said that they were still in the concentration camp and only heard rumors of the bombing of Hiroshima. It was only after the war that they discovered his grandparents had survived, and learned of the deaths of his aunt and cousin. Mr. Takei was obviously sad and said his mother was heartbroken.
He spoke a lot more, but this was most of what he talked about, but with more detail and humor and applause.
He made us feel better. George Takei is a fine human being. His style of speaking was honest, he made mistakes, he was genuine. This wasn't a scripted event, it was one man recounting his life and exhorting us all to continue to engage, to carry on, to fight for human rights, LGBTQ rights, and to celebrate Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
And so I shall, my daughter, and so I shall.
Love, Dad