George Takei: Star Trek and Strength

While George Takei is known to many as "Sulu" or "The Star Trek guy," when one looks to his life, an inspirational journey is to be seen. Starting from oppression and feeling that same marginalization throughout much of his life, Taeki can be seen as an epitome of "hope" to those who feel discriminated against.

Takei At age 6, Takei's family was moved to an interment camp. Originally from Los Angeles, they were first moved to the Rohwer War Relocation Center for Internment in Arkansas. The family was later transferred to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California. During this time, while Takei was young, he remembers the pain and sheer lack of rights he had during this early period in his life.

"I remember the barbed wire and the guard towers and the machine guns, but they became part of my normal landscape. What would be abnormal in normal times became my normality in camp," Takei said.

Even before going to camp, he remembered how many other Americans didn't even flinch, rather taking advantage of the situation.

"I remembered some people who lived across the street from our home as we were being taken away," Takei said. "When I was a teenager, I had many after-dinner conversations with my father about our internment. He told me that after we were taken away, they came to our house and took everything. We were literally stripped clean."

Soon, following World War 2, Takei and his family were able to move back to Los Angeles where he finished the rest of his education. At the time, he had recently learned that some of his extended family, such as his aunt and young cousin, had died in the atomic bomb attacks.

As a high schooler, he became the President of his student body, and later attended UC Berkley and UC Los Angeles. When he entered the field of film, however, the time was quite different. That is, there was much less diversity on screen than there is today, so naturally, it was difficult for Takei to find work at first.

Then, Star Trek came about - a show dedicated to creating and promoting diversity in the film agency. Following Star Trek, he continued to star in films and also ran for a series of elections in local areas such as Los Angeles City Council. Throughout this entire time, he stayed active in politics.

However, Takei's activism took an entirely different and new level when, in 2005, when officially came out as homosexual to Frontiers magazine in response to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of same-sex marriage in the state. 

"It's not really coming out, which suggests opening a door and stepping through. It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen," he said when asked why he had come out.  

While Takei had already been involved in many LGBT organizations, he increased his vocal and public support for the increased in basic rights and liberties for those who are LGBT. He serves as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign "Coming Out Project" along with have, for the last decade, continuously taking up the helm to defend the rights of those who are LGBT. He is, to this day, a vehement fighter for the cause.

Starting-off his life in internment, facing discrimination in his work, and having to come-out to those who didn't accept him, Takei, in a way, is the symbol for the ability to preserve, to hope, and to do great things despite the unwarranted prejudice one faces in society. 

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