IMPRISONED BY THEIR OWN COUNTRIES

George Takei And Robert Clary Look Back At Youth Tainted By War

BY DOMINICK CANCILLA

here is no greater betrayal than a betrayal of trust. It is far him and turned him over to the Nazis. On his way to the concen- Tworse to be abused by a parent than beaten by a stranger. It is tration camp in the back of an open truck crowded with other pris- a greater evil to cheat a lover than a chance acquaintance. That is oners, children on the street laughed, threw stones, and yelled, why, in times of war, the most deeply betrayed are those who are “Dirty Jew bastards.” betrayed by their own country. Of the 1,004 people in Clary’s convoy, 698 were sent directly to In this section we offer two examples of such betrayal. Each of the gas chambers. Of those who were not immediately selected, 15 these men was taken prisoner by the government of the country he men and no women survived. Of the twelve members of his fam- had grown up with. One was delivered to the Nazis, one was ily who were taken, only he returned. imprisoned in America. Each went on to a prosperous career, and In his book From to Hogan’s Heroes, Clary devoted part of his life to educating the world so that such horri- details his early life, his 31 months spent in German concentration ble wrongs would never happen again. camps, and his career afterwards. He makes clear not only the hor- ror of the Holocaust, but also the fact that luck and chance occur- ROBERT CLARY: rence had as much to do with survival in the camps as did strength FROM THE HOLOCAUST of will. TO HOGAN’S HEROES The book is interesting, both because it tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of someone who lived through it, here are few Americans who are not familiar with Hogan’s and because it details Clary’s life after the war. His unwillingness THeroes. The show is a sitcom set in a German to discuss the Holocaust until long after it was over, and the events camp during World War II, revolving around Colonel Hogan and which led to his change in feelings about speaking of it are quite his fellow prisoners matching of wits with their bumbling captors. telling. Although the show’s premise is somewhat questionable, its exe- Those who know Clary only because of Hogan’s Heroes will be cuting was excellent. Hogan’s Heroes ran for six seasons in the surprised to learn that he had an extensive singing career before 1960s and remains popular to this day. that show, and that until recently he was putting out an album every What many people don’t know is that two of the show’s actors year. Clary is also an accomplished artist, and continues to express were deeply affected by real events in Germany during World War himself through his paintings. II. — Hogan’s Colonel Klink — was a German Until recently, he also was a frequent speaker for the Simon Jew whose family was forced to flee Germany as Hitler rose to Wiesenthal Center, helping school children and other groups learn power. Robert Clary — Hogan’s Corporal LeBeau — was a French about the Holocaust so that such a thing can never happen again. Jew whose family didn’t see the Nazis coming until it was too late. Clary was quite willing to speak with us about the current state Clary was born in in the early 1920s. He endured anti- of Holocaust education. But even so, there was something in his semitism while trying to build for himself a career as an entertainer. manner which gave the impression that he was doing something When Clary was 16, the government of occupied arrested he had to do rather than something he wanted to do. Even after

METROPOLE | 48 Survivors, but still scarred: George Takei as Mr. Sulu in Star Trek and Robert Clary as LeBeau in Hogan’s Heroes sixty years, the wounds refused to heal. what they did. It’s what’s on their mind. CLARY: There were all kinds of things There are German soldiers and Nazis so and they were all very gratifying. Every METROPOLE: What do you feel is the they think concentration camp. But it was time I was through talking they would give current state of education on the Holocaust? very different. It had nothing to do with me a standing ovation. They loved to see ROBERT CLARY: I educated from 1980 genocide, nothing to do with arresting Jews me, to see the number on my arm. And the for at least 15 years. There’s really not just because they are Jews. Maybe it’s a letters I received are very gratifying and much more I can tell you about it. It was sign of bad education, but it’s not just stu- keep me going. very tough, but the Simon Wiesenthal cen- dents who said that. Grownups at the time METROPOLE: Do you think that the ter sent me all over the U.S. and Canada to said that. Even people who didn’t watch it Holocaust is being adequately taught about functions, and I would talk about the sub- were horrified by what they thought was a in schools? ject. If it wasn’t successful I would have concentration camp. You could not do a CLARY: I hope so. I don’t know what we stopped a long time ago because you can comedy series about a camp, but it is true Jews did that we are on this earth to be so not fool the kids. I do not do it any more. that in concentration camps, most of us did despised constantly by other human beings. All I do now is paint, and I used to put out not lose our sense of humor, and that was We were the complete opposite — we a CD every year but I think I’ve stopped part of how we got through it. brought people who cured diseases and now. I’ve also joined the Shoah foundation METROPOLE: In your book you mention wrote great symphonies. For centuries we established by Spielberg, which was a great someone asking about your sex life in the have always been — they have wanted to thing. Many survivors wanted a movie camp. Does this kind of question seem get rid of us. If you teach people from a made about it, and the foundation has innocent or ignorant to you? very early age to not to despise, to not to recorded the stories of many survivors. CLARY: It depends who asked that ques- hate, it might help a little bit to show us I know one or two survivors who are still tion. I don’t really remember. I think it was why we are on this earth. talking about it and who belong to the kind of a curiosity. At that age people are METROPOLE: At what age should chil- Wiesenthal center. The center sends school greatly obsessed with sex so they want to dren be introduced to the subject? children by bus to see the Museum of Tol- find out “what did they do.” It didn’t shock CLARY: I think I always resented to talk erance and hear from a survivor. me. From a young student, it was sheer to five, six, seven years old kid, even eight METROPOLE: Do you think that people curiosity. They’re at the age where they are or nine. My thinking is they are much too confusing the setting of Hogan’s Heroes talking to you so they want to know what is young to comprehend. I think you have to with a concentration camp is a sign of bad hanging between your legs. be in high school. At that age, you have to education? METROPOLE: What other kinds of ques- be responsible for what you do with your CLARY: I think that most of the time that’s tions were you often asked? life, and they may understand better and be

METROPOLE | 49 more impressed. fine. I am contented to have been very about the Japanese relocation camps during METROPOLE: When I was in high lucky to have lived as long as I have and to World War II — school, one of my classmates brought in a have had a great marriage and parents. I GEORGE TAKEI: Oh no, no. Let me note from her mother excusing her from have wonderful grandchildren. If people correct you right off. They were U.S. any classroom discussions about World want to think “Hogan’s Heroes made a star internment camps for Japanese Americans. War II. What do you think of that? out of him,” fine. I have always sung and Japanese internment camps were put up by CLARY: Well that’s ignorance on their danced and worked in all aspects of show the Japanese government for American parents’ part. business. P.O.W.s. You see the difference. METROPOLE: Education is needed to METROPOLE: Is there any thought METROPOLE: Absolutely. help counter the arguments of Holocaust you’d like to leave our readers with? TAKEI: These were U.S. internment revisionists. How do you think revisionists CLARY: No that’s about it. Just tell them camps for Japanese Americans. We were should be handled? to buy the book! rounded up by our own government and CLARY: I think they have been handled incarcerated in our own country. That’s the quite well. They were put on the map, and GEORGE TAKEI big difference. people said, “listen to those idiots, those FROM INTERNMENT TO STAR TREK METROPOLE: Along those same lines, is anti-Semites.” A small minority group was there a preferred word to use for people made to look responsible for all that was ust after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, who were in those camps? bad in this world. It is frightening. That was Jthe United States government declared TAKEI: Internees. one of the major reasons I started to talk. all people of Japanese ancestry security METROPOLE: Thank you. I think that People would say that I should not mention risks. Japanese Americans in great numbers this is an important subject, and I’m hoping the revisionists, but these are the people were rounded up and shipped to internment that having information about the camps putting poison in your mind and we have to camps because of their race. Japanese come from you will get some people beware of them people who had immigrated to the United interested who might not be otherwise. METROPOLE: Some countries have States in the hope of finding a better life TAKEI: I would like people to read about made revisionist Web sites illegal, do you and, perhaps, greater freedom, instead had it. I am chairman of the board of the think this is effective? their freedom stripped away. Japanese American National Museum, and CLARY: If you do something illegal, then Maybe we can look at the behavior of this institution is to tell, not just that story, I have no reason to talk to you the way I do France’s government toward its Jewish but the story of the entire Japanese Ameri- now. It is a very thin line. It is like when the citizens during World War II and excuse it can experience, from the coming of the neo-Nazis walked outside Chicago when so as an act carried out under pressure from an immigrants to what happened to the next many Jewish survivors were living there. invading army. Maybe we can look at the generation with World War II. And then the When is the first amendment not the 1st Nazis and call them simply evil. But how redress movement and the glory of democ- amendment? I suppose never. can we excuse the the imprisoning of racy where today we now have Japanese METROPOLE: On Amazon.com there is American citizens by a country which is Americans not only in the halls of a comment on your book by someone who supposed to be the world’s foremost exam- Congress, but on the President’s cabinet as is obviously a revisionist and who has not ple of freedom and individual rights? well. As I’m sure you know, the Secretary read the book. Do you find it possible not The answer is that we can not excuse it, of Transportation is Norman Mineta, who to take this kind of thing personally? we can only learn from it. was in an internment camp himself. CLARY: I’m not surprised, because I Long before George Takei became METROPOLE: The Japanese American know what human beings are. I take it that famous for his role as Mr. Sulu on the National Museum — is that the one in Los the person is a complete moron and should original Star Trek, he was, along with his Angeles? learn to live with other people. I should tell family, held prisoner in a U.S. internment TAKEI: That is correct. However, we you that my nephew, Brian Gary, who dis- camp. travel our exhibits throughout the country, covered my book and found me a publish- We spoke to Takei in the hope of learn- and so we are a national museum. As a er, takes care of my Web site. I don’t have ing about the camps from an insider’s point matter of fact, I think we can be called an a computer. I don’t want to be involved of view, and were surprised to find that as international museum because we’ve sent with it. For me, it is a waste of time. I paint, an advocate for education on this issue, our exhibits to Brazil, and for the last two I do things that I could not just sit at a com- Takei is a wealth of information on both the years we’ve had an exhibit traveling to puter and read a lot of bad e-mail. A lot of camps’ history and their impact on Japan. We’ve found that the people of people write just because they think they America. Japan are just as ignorant of the Japanese can talk to a famous person. I don’t want to We were also surprised to find that Takei American experience and of the internment waste my time with that, so I d not have a does not appear to bear any resentment for as two-thirds of America is. computer at home. the country that held him prisoner. The tone METROPOLE: I’m guessing that you METROPOLE: In addition to being a sur- of his voice said as much as — perhaps were too young when your parents were vivor, you have an extensive singing and more than — his words. This is a man who taken to the camp to have any memory of acting career. Do you ever feel that you are sees what American can be, what it was your life before that time, is that right? defined more by what has happened to you intended to be, and who knows how badly TAKEI: I was four years old at the time of than by what you have accomplished? it failed when put to the test in 1942. Pearl Harbor, and I was in two camps until CLARY: It makes no difference to me. If I was eight years old. that’s what people want to think about it, METROPOLE: I’m interested in talking METROPOLE: So do you recall being

METROPOLE | 50 taken to the camp? echoes are still audible today when Arab had high guard towers with machine guns TAKEI: You know, I was too young to Americans are being beat up or their busi- pointed at you. It was no different from a really understand what was happening, but nesses have rocks thrown into them or concentration camp. Well, I shouldn’t com- a child senses the parent’s tensions. We when male Arab immigrants are taken pare it with the Nazi concentration camps were all packing up and getting ready to away without charges. It was just like with because they were death camps. There was leave, and then when soldiers with guns the Japanese Americans — no charges, no no systematic elimination of the Japanese come to take you away, that was scary. I do trial, they are just taken away and incarcer- American internees. However, it wasn’t remember that. And here’s an interesting ated for a period of time, and their families systematic, but many were in essence killed historic circle. We were taken from our have no idea of where they are, why they by the internment experience. home and assembled in front of the oldest were taken away. They call it detention Every Japanese American had to go, Japanese Buddhist temple in downtown now, instead of internment. whether they were citizen or immigrant, a Los Angeles. And it was that building that METROPOLE: Were your parents U.S. baby or elderly person, and medical care became the first building of the Japanese citizens at that time? was very poor, so if you got sick that was American National Museum. TAKEI: My mother was a U.S. citizen. almost a death sentence. Many people went We were assembled there, then put on This is another little-known fact of Ameri- crazy, and they would walk up to the barb busses, and then taken to the horse stables can history. Every immigrant coming to wire fences. Even when the guards said at the Santa Anita racetrack because the this country can aspire to become a stop they wouldn’t stop walking and were camps weren’t built yet. So we were there naturalized citizen, except one group of shot down. for a couple of months. And then from there immigrants — immigrants from Asia. At The military even raided orphanages, to we were put on a train and taken to the that time it was mainly Chinese and Japan- gather Japanese-American babies. Now swamps of Arkansas — a camp called ese, and they could not become naturalized what threat are they to the government? Rohwer. There were ten camps all together, citizens. So from the very outset they had Babies? And some were half Japanese at all of them in some of the most God-for- this discrimination put upon them. My that. That’s why they were orphans. A saken places in America. Whether in the father came to this country when he was 10 woman had an affair, got pregnant, and in swamps of the south, or the blistering hot years old. He was educated in San those days to have a half-Caucasian baby desert of Arizona, or the windy, cold, high Francisco, he grew up in San Francisco, would have had her ostracized from the plains of Wyoming, or Utah, or Colorado. and he was an American in spirit if not in Japanese American community, so she gave Can you imagine how it was for my par- legalistic terms. But because he was born in the baby up for adoption. And the military ents, to have your business, property, home, Japan, he could not become a naturalized went and gathered all the Japanese Ameri- freedom, taken away from you, and then be citizen. can babies and set up an orphanage at housed in a horse stable where the stench of METROPOLE: Was that a new law or the Manzanar camp. It was irrational. horses was still pungent. something already on the books? Hysterical. METROPOLE: Do you feel that insult of TAKEI: It was from the 1800s. To give METROPOLE: Do you recall anyone try- being taken to horse stables was intention- you a little bit of history, the Japanese par- ing to escape? al, or that the government just took you ticularly when they came to the west coast TAKEI: No I do not. I’m sure you can find where there was available space? went into farming and they were quite suc- instances of that if you do some research. TAKEI: Well, the government didn’t house cessful. The Caucasian community wanted METROPOLE: Among the people who draftees in horse stables. to prevent the Japanese immigrants who were taken to the camps, what was the feel- METROPOLE: That’s true. A very good were so successful in farming from owning ing toward the government at that point? point. You mentioned your parents’ land, so in California in 1912 they passed TAKEI: There was a whole range. Before property. Were people expected to just give what was called the alien land law. It said internment, but right after Pearl Harbor, up everything but what they could carry? nothing about Asians. The phrase that they young Japanese American men and women TAKEI: Well, you know, they said they used was “aliens ineligible for citizenship.” — like all American men and women — were coming to get us, and what my parents And who were they? The only aliens ineli- rushed to the draft board to volunteer to used to call vultures were all hovering gible for citizenship were Asians — the serve in the military. They were responded about and my father felt it was better to get Chinese and Japanese. They were excluded to with a slap in the face. They were labeled something than to leave and have it taken from owning the land they developed. They 4C which translates in normal English as away by the vultures. He got $5 for his car. took wasteland and turned it into bountiful enemy non-aliens. Now, what is a non- My mother’s brand new refrigerator he sold agricultural land, yet they could not own it. alien? for a dollar. He was a bibliophile, he col- And then a couple of years later, Oregon Well, that’s a citizen. But we had to be lected books, and he didn’t want to lose passed the same law, as did the state of defined in the negative. Enemy non-alien. that so he put them into storage. There were Washington. All up and down the West And for those Japanese Americans that some people who were so angered by the coast they passed a law that didn’t say were already in the military at that time, vultures hanging about that they took their Asians but was directed specifically at they had the greatest insult inflicted on a furniture out into the back yard and burned Asians. soldier. Their weapons were taken away, it rather than leave it to the vultures. METROPOLE: Talking again about your and if you protested you were thrown into Here in America. experience in the camps, how were you the stockade. Just for being Japanese Amer- You know, the importance of this story treated? ican. You’re already wearing the uniform today is that we hear faint echoes — it was- TAKEI: It varied from camp to camp, but and serving your country, but overnight you n’t as blatant as sixty years ago — but the you had barb wire fences around you. You become a potential traitor and saboteur or

METROPOLE | 51 fifth columnist. but they’re not going to take my dignity and my father was block manager in both However, a year into internment, the away from me. I’m not going to grovel camps, sort of like the representative of government realized there was a manpower before this kind of outrage. And they each block, so he was seen as something of shortage and here are all these young men answered “no” to those two questions. As a leader. When we came out, many of those and women in camps that they could extraordinary as it is, there were those who people that had difficulties speaking Eng- utilize, but they’ve incarcerated us as answered yes to those two questions and lish came to my father to have him help potential traitors, so they had to find some despite their rejection a year ago as 4C, them get a job or find housing. way of ascertaining the quote “loyalty” of they volunteered to serve in the military So my father after his first job as a dish- the people who had their property taken again. washer opened an employment agency in away, their freedom taken away, and they You might have read about the 442nd little Tokyo and he helped them. But the were imprisoned behind barb-wire fences. Regimental Combat Team, and the Japan- kind of jobs he could get for them were jobs They came down with this outrageous ese Americans who served with the military like dishwasher, or janitor, and cleaning thing called the loyalty questionnaire. This intelligence board. They served with extra- lady that paid a pittance, and he didn’t have was a year into the incarceration. It was a ordinary valor. And the 442nd Regimental the heart to collect his commission. And so series of questions — about fifty questions Combat Team is the most decorated outfit my mother said, you know we’ve got to eat — but they were interested in two specific to return from the European theater of to, you’ve got to quit doing this, so he start- questions. And this questionnaire had to be World War II. This is another little known ed a dry-cleaning business in east L.A., responded to by everyone over seventeen fact, it was another Japanese American out- which is the Mexican-American ghetto. He years of age. Everyone. Whether you were fit, the 522nd battalion, that liberated was reasonably successful there, and we an immigrant old lady, or a seventeen-year- Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp. got the to point where we could by a house. old girl. Question 27 asked, “Will you bear METROPOLE: I didn’t know that. So in 1950 my father bought a house back arms to defend the United States of Amer- TAKEI: Most people don’t know that. in the same old neighborhood, the Wilshire ica.” Could you imagine this being asked of METROPOLE: So at what time did your district, that we’d lived in before the war. an 88-year-old immigrant lady? Or even an family leave the camp? METROPOLE: You left in 1946, so you 88-year-old immigrant man? Or a seven- TAKEI: The outside world was still pretty were in the camp when the atomic bomb teen-year-old girl? And in the case of my scary because anti-Japanese feelings were was dropped on Hiroshima. Do you recall mother who was in her mid twenties, she still strong. So, in our family — there were that? had three young children. My baby sister other families that left together — but in TAKEI: Well, my mother’s parents, grand- was just an infant then, and I was five year my family my father left first, in 1945, and parents, came from Hiroshima. And before old. And she was asked to respond to came back to Los Angeles to find housing the war they returned to Hiroshima, “Would you bear arms to defend the Unit- and a job. Those were the two most difficult because they sensed the war coming. For ed States of America?” things to get. my mother it was an absolutely torturous Question 28 asked — and this was a very My father’s first job was as a dishwash- experience because we didn’t get any infor- sloppily worded question with two ideas in er in a China Town restaurant and the hous- mation other than what little information one sentence — “Will you swear your loy- ing that he found for us was on skid row in the camp command would share. She had alty to the United States of America and downtown Los Angeles. We left the camp no idea whether her parents had survived or forswear your loyalty to the Emperor of in February of 1946. For us, as children, whether they were gone. Japan.” Now the word forswear assumes that was normality, because everybody My mother didn’t sleep at all; she was that there is an existing loyalty to the always lived the same way. We all lived in tortured by it. And so my father said to her, Emperor of Japan. This is an outrageous the tar-paper barracks, we lined up three why don’t you, for your own peace, con- question to ask of an American citizen — times a day for our meals, we all showered sider your parents having gone. As it turned someone born here, educated here, who in the communal shower, and so that was out, my grandparents had survived, but one always thought he was an American — will normality for us as children. So when we of my mother’s younger sisters went back you forswear your existing loyalty. You came out it was a terrifying experience. The to Japan with my grandparents, and she and can’t forswear something which doesn’t stench of urine and the human feces in the her baby were killed in the atomic bomb- exist. And so if you answered no to that alleyways in skid row, and the scary, ugly ing. She was supposed to have died in one question, meaning you don’t have a loyalty people that staggered around and then they of the rivers in Hiroshima. Apparently their to the Emperor to forswear, you were fell down and just lay there in their barf. bodies hurt so much that they found some saying no to the first part as well, “will you We’d never seen anything like that. My lit- refuge in the rivers, and that’s where she swear your loyalty to the United States of tle sister said, “Mama, let’s go back home,” died, as did her baby. She was found dead America.” If you answered yes, meaning meaning back behind those barbed wire with her baby. that you would swear your loyalty to the fences. METROPOLE: This is just one of the United States of America, you were also — METROPOLE: How long do you think worst parts of our history. a ha — fessing up that you were up until after you were released your family started TAKEI: That’s why the unilateral efforts that time were loyal to the Emperor of feeling like part of society again? by George Bush to start a war in Iraq is Japan. It was outrageous. TAKEI: My father spoke both Japanese really a chilling thing. This questionnaire threw all ten camps and English fluently, and in camp — we METROPOLE: Do you feel that the exis- into turmoil. They didn’t know how to were in two different camps, the one in tence of the camps made feelings of racism answer that. My parents said that they have Arkansas and then we were taken to anoth- worse, or better — taken my property, my home, my freedom, er one in northern California, Tule Lake — TAKEI: How could it be better?

METROPOLE | 52 METROPOLE: I’ve heard that in France, for this deficiency. We feel that dark chap- for example, after the war, there was less ter in American history is probably the most racism because people saw how horrible important chapter in American history. My the camps had been. father used to say both the strength and TAKEI: What made the difference was the weakness of American democracy is that it Japanese Americans who served in the mil- is a true people’s democracy. It’s as great as itary. Because they served with such the people can be, but it’s also as fallible as incredible patriotism — as I said, the 442nd people. is the single most decorated outfit, and That’s why political leadership, respon- there are many Congressional Medals of sible political leadership, is so important, to Honor awardees. As a matter of fact, the try and put these yahoos in their place. And senior senator from the state of Hawaii, to try and keep the hysteria down. I’m Senator Danny Inouye, one of the veterans afraid that we have an attorney general, of the senate, has a loose right sleeve John Ashcroft, who is raising the same kind because he left his arm in Italy while fight- of issues again, pitting national security ing with the 442nd. against civil liberties. What is national Because of that, a lot of things started to security when our civil liberties are endan- change. For example, in 1952 the Walter gered? We don’t have an America to protect McCarran act was passed, which for the — if the fundamental principles and ideals first time granted naturalized citizenship to of this system are going to be compro- Asian immigrants. My father was one of mised, then what is national security? the first to become naturalized. Although he METROPOLE: We’re essentially came here as a boy, and he felt American, destroying ourselves. he couldn’t officially become an American TAKEI: Exactly. until the Walter McCarran act was passed METROPOLE: A friend of mine who was in ’52. born in one of the internment camps tells METROPOLE: You mentioned current me that it seems to her that only the descen- events earlier. Do you think that there could dants of the people that were in the camps be camps of this kind again? have any kind of interest — and that inter- TAKEI: I’d like to think not the camps, but est is waning with every passing genera- when you have an event like September 11 tion. Things like your museum are obvi- or Bush’s sense that Saddam Hussein is a ously helping to correct that. What else do threat to the United States, there is an air of you think needs to be done to preserve this hysteria. As I said earlier, Arab immigrant history for all Americans, not just Japanese men are being detained with no charges, Americans? just like with the Japanese Americans. No TAKEI: Education is the key to democra- trials. Just detention, in this case, with their cy. When too many people are ignorant, families not knowing anything. then democracy is endangered. It’s got to The yahoos in our society, in our nation, be woven into the fabric of our education- have taken pot shots at people and mur- al system. This was not a Japanese-Ameri- dered not just Muslims but, you known an can experience. It was an outrage to the Egyptian in Phoenix, Arizona — an Egypt- American constitution. That’s everybody’s ian Sikh, so he’s an entirely different reli- constitution — your constitution, my con- gion, but these yahoos shot him and killed stitution, Jesse Jackson’s constitution, Pat him. Just last week, a young, 18 year old Robertson’s constitution. All Americans Arab-American kid whose brother talks should know about the failure of American just like us — the kid’s so beat up that he democracy at that point in history so that can’t be interviewed — was ganged up on we don’t let that happen again. by about twenty young non-American — METROPOLE: I assume that people who meaning their behavior is non-American — are interested in more information should white kids. This kind of behavior is com- turn to your museum. pletely contrary to what this nation is, but TAKEI: Yes. We’re on the Internet, as you it’s started happening again. know, and we travel our exhibits all over METROPOLE: I remember little more the country. We currently have one in than brief mention of these camps being Sacramento. The exhibit titled “American made in history class in high school. Why Concentration Camp” was in New York; do you think so little time is spent teaching Atlanta, Georgia; Sacramento; Seattle; and about this? next year it’s going to be going to Little TAKEI: That’s why we have the Japanese Rock, Arkansas. r American National Museum, to make up

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