George Takei has had a lifelong dream of making it to Broadway. He may finally get that chance with his musical Allegiance, the story of how the incarceration of Japanese Americans tore a family apart.
Takei recently gave a talk at TEDXBroadway and explained how his experience at a five-year-old in the camps has stayed with him until this day.
“I was 5 years old when my parents got us up early one morning and hurriedly dressed us,” says Takei. “My brother and I were in the living room, looking out the front window. I saw two soldiers with bayonets on their rifles come marching up the driveway. They stomped up the front porch and they banged on the door … We were ordered out of our home.”
“I remember the sentry tower with machine guns pointed down at us. I remember the searchlight that followed me when I made night runs to the latrine. As a 5-year-old kid, I thought it was kind of nice that they lit the way for me to pee.”
You can hear Takei’s entire talk on TED.
