February 20, 2012
On George Takei

TakeiYesterday, I posted George Takei’s remembrance of the anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt signing the order the led to the internment of more than 100,000 Japanese persons across the American west during WWII, all for the sin of being, well, Japanese or of Japanese heritage. This order, which the United States later apologized for but which was upheld at the time by the Supreme Court in Korematsu v United States, led to Takei’s family being interred. Takei, who was a child at the time, thus went to prison for several of the first years of his life. For, well, nothing.

Which got me thinking: I think it is likely that Takei’s Star Trek character, Ensign Sulu, may well have been the first sympathetic, respectful depiction of a Japanese-heritage person on American television. I am not sure, but none others pop to mind. During the war, of course, Japanese people were treated as profound stereotypes, a pattern that continued into the 1950s.

If anyone has any ideas for a sympathetic, competent, professional Japanese-heritage character before George Takei’s Ensign Sulu (1966-69), let me know. But it may be that Mr. Takei was a groundbreaker in more ways than one.

12:15pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZPUuPyGkIHL9
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    There has been a lot said about Star Trek’s groundbreaking characters and casting. Sulu and Uhura in particular. Both...
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