The Power of Pride: George Takei TEDxKyoto

Now for those that are thinking that this talk Uncle George did is about homosexuality, it is not.

George "Uncle George" Takei draws his inspiration and strength from one of the darkest chapters of American history: the World War II uprooting and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese-American citizens.

Recalling his childhood spent behind the barbed wire of America's concentration camps, Mr. Takei reveals his life-long journey from bitter confusion to an impassioned admiration and pride in his fellow Japanese-Americans and his country that encompasses and celebrates us all.

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. George Takei draws his inspiration and strength from one of the darkest chapters of American history: the World War II uprooting and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese-American citizens.

Recalling his childhood spent behind the barbed wire of America's concentration camps, Mr. Takei reveals his life-long journey from bitter confusion to an impassioned admiration and pride in his fellow Japanese-Americans and his country that encompasses and celebrates us all.


For actors projected onto a movie screen, or performing upon stage, the audience sees only the barest sliver of the real person inside the performer. By the time George Takei stepped in front of a television camera for the first time at the age of 22, he had already endured challenges that his audiences would never have been able to guess, much less truly comprehend. After a childhood spent behind the barbed wire of United States internment camps, placed there simply for the face he wore, George Takei nurtured—and fulfilled many, many times over—the dream of becoming an actor on television, in movies and on stage in a career that spans five decades. And with this dream arose so many others, including his vital work as a political activist, social commentator, author and powerful internet presence. Each dream is individually inspiring, collectively leading George boldly to go where few, if any, have gone before.

I admire Uncle George so much and not just for his LGBTQ+ activism but for his political activism as well. He has had to overcome many barriers in his life and has done an amazing job!! Most of us think of him as Sulu on Star Trek but Uncle George has seen a lot and been through a lot & is now inspiring many people. He's a great man who is very well educated and as you learn in this TED talk a lot of it had to do with his Dad & what his family endured during World War 2.

Humanity could learn a lot from Uncle George.

a reply to: knoledgeispower


Thanks for posting this. I lived in Hawaii and had many Japanese friends who were rounded up and whose childhoods were also spent in "Rice Camp". It's an embarrassing and shameful, not so long ago, piece of our history.

originally posted by: windword
a reply to: knoledgeispower


Thanks for posting this. I lived in Hawaii and had many Japanese friends who were rounded up and whose childhoods were also spent in "Rice Camp". It's an embarrassing and shameful, not so long ago, piece of our history.

Your welcome. I knew about the round up because my Grandma used to host Japanese exchange students so she knew lots about their history and told me about it. I learned that even in Canada there was a round of Japanese Canadians that were sent into interment camps and the ones that lived in my community in B.C were sent to a camp some where in the interior region of B.C.

Not that long ago they had a remembrance ceremony for the Japanese people that were rounded up in my town, we had a huge population of Japanese Canadians back then.