For those of you who may not recognize his name right away, he is best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu on Star Trek.
What many may not know is he is openly gay and a staunch supporter of gay rights. Being Japanese-American, when he was a child he and his family were forced out of their home and sent to a Japanese internment camp in the USA during World War II.
He was the guest speaker at the National Press Club in the USA only a few weeks ago, on October 18, 2013. Here is the entire video. I hope many of you will view it. Once he starts speaking, I think you will find it impossible to tear yourself away from it:
George Takei
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Re: George Takei
I have been a Facebook friend of George since he only had 6000 friends. He has a great wit and an excellent head on his shoulders. I have been a fan since 1967 and his Star Trek years and am happy to follow him on FB now. What a great speech, thank you GB!
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Tripod Mike
Re: George Takei
Listening to George's exceptional speech brought back fond childhood memories and later learning the real meaning and the existence of prejudice and bigotry. Following my Dad's death from a Japanese torpedo sinking his Navy ship in the Java Sea shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked, my mother turned to the church for strength. Soon after the War was over, all the Japanese-Americans were released from internment camps throughout the country and many of them settled into quickly assembled trailer camps. One such Japanese trailer camp was across the street from our Navy housing project. Adhering to "Love Thy Neighbor", my mom strongly encouraged me to go play with the Japanese-American children, many of whom were my age. I loved flying kites, playing ball, sharing a scooter ride, and pissing in the same floor pot inside my friend's trailer instead of using the communal camp bathroom.
My very first true love - "puppy love" was a little Japanese girl who was in my same preschool Kindergarten class. Wow!...I really had the "hearts" for her and every afternoon I would carry her coloring book for her as we walked home after school. On Saturdays I would hold her hand while we watched cartoons together in the Japanese assembly hall. One day my older brother and sister caught me holding her and when I told them I was going to marry her, they teased me, saying we would have slanted eye children. It didn't matter - I was determined to marry her.
A few years later, after my mother married a young Naval Officer, we moved from California to Virginia - just outside Washington D.C. Here my innocent life came to an abrupt end and realism struck hard. Virginia at the time was segregated. It really didn't occur to my brother, sister, and myself why we never saw any black children. One day after school I was searching for some playmates -anyone to play cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, football, just anything when I saw a lone black boy about my age. We played all that afternoon and the next morning, at school, 6 of my classmates beat the shit out of me - later saying this was my first lesson living in Virginia - to never-ever play with blacks again. Boy!, I was disillusioned and it hurt. It hurt everything good I was taught.
Trying to relate to George's National Press Conference speech, please allow me to describe 1 more intolerable backward episode - this time with a happy ending. Living in Sacramento for 30 plus years, I knew gay acceptance was nonexistent for the most part in the earlier years. The gays were always secretive and careful with who they would associate with. What made matters worse was 2 very wealthy boyfriends who owned the best, largest and most popular gay bar in town yet they disliked lesbians and required the women to produce 3 pictured ID's to enter their establishment. The lesbians rebelled and wouldn't allow any gay men into their bars. I knew and liked many of these women and saw what the 2 men were doing to our gay community. In short, I decided to form a gay lesbian transgender mixed Bowling league to defy these 2 men with their power and to bring back together our gay community. It worked. We had 44 teams, made up of many all lesbian, all male, even mixed teams with 1 completely deft team - a total of 220 gays bowling together every Sunday afternoon. Everyone had a great time and It was the talk of the town. We were once again reunited! I learned later from the ABC - American Bowling Congress we were the largest Bowling League in America (straight, gay, or otherwise) for the 2 years I was involved.
Yes,George Takei, like so many millions of others, continues to fight for equal rights. Even a small little episode described above can contribute in a miniscule way. George deserves a larger National Press Conference coffee cup.
My very first true love - "puppy love" was a little Japanese girl who was in my same preschool Kindergarten class. Wow!...I really had the "hearts" for her and every afternoon I would carry her coloring book for her as we walked home after school. On Saturdays I would hold her hand while we watched cartoons together in the Japanese assembly hall. One day my older brother and sister caught me holding her and when I told them I was going to marry her, they teased me, saying we would have slanted eye children. It didn't matter - I was determined to marry her.
A few years later, after my mother married a young Naval Officer, we moved from California to Virginia - just outside Washington D.C. Here my innocent life came to an abrupt end and realism struck hard. Virginia at the time was segregated. It really didn't occur to my brother, sister, and myself why we never saw any black children. One day after school I was searching for some playmates -anyone to play cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, football, just anything when I saw a lone black boy about my age. We played all that afternoon and the next morning, at school, 6 of my classmates beat the shit out of me - later saying this was my first lesson living in Virginia - to never-ever play with blacks again. Boy!, I was disillusioned and it hurt. It hurt everything good I was taught.
Trying to relate to George's National Press Conference speech, please allow me to describe 1 more intolerable backward episode - this time with a happy ending. Living in Sacramento for 30 plus years, I knew gay acceptance was nonexistent for the most part in the earlier years. The gays were always secretive and careful with who they would associate with. What made matters worse was 2 very wealthy boyfriends who owned the best, largest and most popular gay bar in town yet they disliked lesbians and required the women to produce 3 pictured ID's to enter their establishment. The lesbians rebelled and wouldn't allow any gay men into their bars. I knew and liked many of these women and saw what the 2 men were doing to our gay community. In short, I decided to form a gay lesbian transgender mixed Bowling league to defy these 2 men with their power and to bring back together our gay community. It worked. We had 44 teams, made up of many all lesbian, all male, even mixed teams with 1 completely deft team - a total of 220 gays bowling together every Sunday afternoon. Everyone had a great time and It was the talk of the town. We were once again reunited! I learned later from the ABC - American Bowling Congress we were the largest Bowling League in America (straight, gay, or otherwise) for the 2 years I was involved.
Yes,George Takei, like so many millions of others, continues to fight for equal rights. Even a small little episode described above can contribute in a miniscule way. George deserves a larger National Press Conference coffee cup.