Misrule of Law

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei [also Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott ; art by Harmony Becker]

Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, [2019]

204 p. : chiefly ill. ; 23 cm.

This graphic novel is a super addition to books on the internment/incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.  As most people know, Pres. Roosevelt (FDR) ordered the seizure and imprisonment of Japanese Americans shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which officially launched the US into the Second World War.  This act was clearly racist, unconstitutional and immoral - though it took about 40 years for the US government to admit it was wrong and pay restitution to survivors.  It took even longer for the Supreme Court to condemn (in 2018) its complicity in this crime (re the Korematsu ruling of 1944).  All this is covered in the book, but the heart of the book is in Takei retelling the story from the viewpoint of a child experiencing his family's ordeal of being arrested, transported and imprisoned in two different internment camps.

The child's viewpoint is in fact Takei's. He was about 5 years old when his family was ordered out of their Los Angeles home and deported by train to Arkansas.  He captures the innocence of a young child taking in much of the experience as a grand adventure though being confused at the crying and hushed whispers of the adults. The book is also strengthened by the life of George Takei who was one of the original stars of Star Trek and who is currently a significant online personality with millions of followers on Facebook and Twitter.   

I learned a lot in this book.  It was especially painful to see how parents tried to figure out what was best to keep their families safe - as when loyalty oaths were offered to the detainees and some out of conscience refused to sign them.  He also gives kudos to both the young Japaneses American men who chose to enlist and fight in the war and to those who refused and were imprisoned at Leavenworth. 

I thought the book was really tight up until the very end. It felt a little jumpy and didactic in the last 20 pages or so as Takei keeps trying to hold up the successes of the US system of government when it finally confronts this injustice.  That being said, it is a powerful and moving book and I would highly recommend it.