George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his captivating stage presence and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a fouryearold boy to find his own birth country at war with his father's and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future.
In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten "relocation centers," hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.
They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.
What is American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins cowriters Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.
George Takei is known around the world for his founding role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the Starship
Enterprise, in the acclaimed television series
Star Trek. But Takei's story goes where few stories have gone before. From a childhood spent with his family wrongfully imprisoned in Japanese American internment camps during World War II, to becoming one of the country's leading figures in the fight for social justice, LGBTQ rights, and marriage equality,
Mashable named Takei the #1 most-influential person on Facebook, with 10.4 million likes and 2.8 million followers on Twitter.
Justin Eisinger is co-author of the
New York Times Best Selling graphic memoir,
They Called Us Enemy, George Takei's story of childhood internment. During a career of more than a dozen years immersed in graphic storytelling, a fateful encounter with
March author and Civil Rights pioneer Congressman John Lewis inspired Eisinger to turn his experience to bringing engaging non-fiction stories to readers. Born in Akron, Ohio, Eisinger lives in San Diego, California, with his wife and two dogs, and in his spare time publishes North America's only inline skating magazine.
Steven Scott has worked regularly in comics since publishing his debut book in 2010, most notably as a publicist. His writing has appeared in publications by Archie Comics, Arcana Studios, and
Heavy Metal magazine. As a blogger/columnist he has written for the pop culture sites
Forces of Geek,
Great Scott Comics, and
PopMatters.
Harmony Becker is an artist and illustrator. She is the creator of the comics
Himawari Share,
Love Potion, and
Anemone and Catharus. She is a member of a multicultural family and has spent time living in South Korea and Japan. Her work often deals with the theme of the language barrier and how it shapes people and their relationships.
