If you think it can’t happen here, remember that it already did. In 1942 soldiers came with rifles to our home and ordered us out. They put us in internment camps. Most of us were citizens.

June 20, 2025 - 20:10 UTC

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@georgetakei.bsky.social: George, did you sign the book for Camp survivors that is making the rounds? My mother-in-law did. She’s now in northern CA. Born in Los Angeles,she was sent to Rohwer via Santa Ana racetrack in 1942. She’s almost 94; most of her friends & family have passed.
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fallout.ghost.io/deportation-doesnt-mean-deportation/

@gregolear.bsky.social
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I’m so sorry that happened to you and your family.

Thank you for talking about what happened so we won’t forget.

It’s beyond terrifying that the same thing is happening again.
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We can’t let this be quietly forgotten, as that part of our history has been by many. I didn’t know anything about the history of the Japanese Americans until I read a work of historical fiction that referenced it. There must be an accounting. Those participating must be held responsible.
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I'm so sorry that you and your family were treated this way by our citizens and government and that you're witnessing this happen again! 💔
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yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/did-donald-trump-steal-the-2024-election/
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Everyone should read: When the Emperor was Divine
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I’m so sorry for what happened to you and your family back then! That should never have happened!
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It absolutely can happen here, which is why preserving and exercising both our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights are vital to maintain a free society.
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🤬🤬🤬
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This is exactly why we need to teach ACTUAL history to our kids. One of my favorite subjects in school. We humans keep doing the same shit, over and over again. Love your neighbor, azzhole! 🧐
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It’s even worse this time, because it’s totally unprovoked. There was no Pearl Harbour to make people this paranoid. They just want to be cruel. It’s pure evil.
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I’m so sorry that this happened to you. That anyone should suffer this kind of abuse is unconscionable
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Yall got to remember when the warm up for dis bullshhht was Seattle!! Can't Forget!!
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That is what I have been thinking …
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The regime bans books so you don’t learn history. In history we learn that everything is possible.
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That's the problem with living in a country that is deeply anti-educational.
We.
Never.
Learn.
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Happened in Canada as well
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Certain threads of power benefit from us not learning, and therefore work against us learning in order to perpetuate themselves.

These threads are almost uniformly rich and right wing.
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And it appears we are still fighting the wrong people. Guess we didn't learn from history. We are not at war... Trump is at war with those stealth planes and other demons in his head.
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It breaks my heart that the US did that to innocent Japanese and other Asians. It is an embarrassment. Sorry you had to endure that inhumanity.

They are building the foundation for it to happen again. Time to rise up! Protect our neighbors/communities. We are all one. 💙
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Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.
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And those who intentionally erase history are intending to repeat it
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Yup, my second grade teacher told us all about it (her family faced the same thing and we're in a camp at Santa Anita Race track..
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How old were you? That HAD to be traumatizing.
The mindset back then was ultra redneck tho. Kinda is now as well.
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Kidnapping!!!! Illegal kidnapping and human trafficking!!
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And you know that the reasons were different
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Doesn't take much for the world to fall apart, does it? A few privileged people get scared, a million "others" get stomped on. That's America.
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What should we do? What wasn't done then that we need to do now? I know the details are different, but please let there be some direction for us! 😭😡
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Love you SO MUCH, GEORGE TAKEI!

And Brad, too - OF COURSE.

Long live the REAL United States.

With love. MUCH! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Betsy
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🥺
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What is the expiration date on shame?
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Astonishing how selective people's memories can be, isn't it?
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👇🏼
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I’m so deeply angry that that happened to you and your family and that it’s happening all over again to innocent people all over this country.
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Yes, it did. I am sick about it. Let us work to make sure it doesn't happen again.
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💔🤬
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George, it's incredibly mind blowing and sad that you are seeing this happen again. When I first learned about what happened to you when I was in grade school (history teacher was a fan of yours) I couldn't even wrap my little brain around it happening. It's heartbreaking that it has come to this.
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THIS IS WHAT FASCISM LOOKS LIKE! WAKE UP AMERICA! WAKE UP CONGRESS! ALL WE NEED ARE 76 REPUBLICANS IN THE HOUSE AND 20 REPUBLICANS IN THE SENATE 2 JOIN WITH THE DEMOCRATS TO IMPEACH & REMOVE TRUMP NOW, "WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED!" TRUMP IS A FASCIST!
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Don’t let us forget otherwise we will just do it again.
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George, I can't imagine what you, your family, and many other Americans suffered. Thank you for speaking out and sharing our country's unfortunate truth. You make the world a much better place! ❤️
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This is not the USAs first rodeo. We have been committing atrocities since before we were "founded."

This country was founded on killing the native people, forcing them into camps, slavery of different peoples, separation of rights, rounding other people up, and religion that we claimed to separate
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They also stole thousands of acres of farmland…our government rounded people up, stole their property & possessions & left them rotting in concentration camps…they want to do the same again…so these US ICE nazis are as bad as previous nazis…we should never forget that…
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😡
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shameful
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Just like the KKK did to any black person they felt was a threat, Jim Crow was legal
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I’m terribly sorry for what you went through George. I’ve heard you speak about it on the Howard Stern show and it sounded horrendous. I pray that this never happens again in America
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They also detained Germans - my husband’s greatgrandfather worked in airplane factory in NY. He was then detained with other “kraut” workers during the war in case they were spies. They were held and not charged and released after the war. It surprised me, but unlike Japanese not the whole family.
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And they are looking to do it again.
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You must have thought you would never see it again George?
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💔💔💔💔
Forever a racist stain on our American history.
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So sorry that that happened to you, your family, and your people. We never seem to learn 😔
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can? it is, he's only been in office a short time
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This reminds me of during the pandemic, when a bunch of white sketchy dudes just started wearing mask and reflective vest and people assume they are delivery driver , meanwhile they are doing shady shit
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Keep reminding people of this George. Too many in the US don’t know or even believe that such things have happened in the US. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.” Let’s continue to believe the US has enough good people.
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I'm an empath and this is destroying my soul. I'd give my own life to save theirs.
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It is happening NOW.
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Thank you for speaking about this!
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47
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Remember Putrid's goal: Destroy America. 47 is so self-centered and demented--so blinded by his greed--that he doesn't realize that every single time he follows Putrid's suggestion for consolidating power, he is also weakening USA--AND--weakening his own power position vis a vis Vlademort Putrid.
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And the sad part is that we didn't learn from any of the previous mistakes.
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Most people don't know about Asian internment camps. Seriously. Those who suppress history plan to repeat it.
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George ~ it breaks my heart that you, your family, and so many other #JapaneseAmericans experienced this trauma and injustice. It was wrong then, it's wrong now, and is so wrong it should never happen again.
#ICE is doing it and worse right now. Their draconian sadistic "operation" must be stopped.
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And now you can't say anything negative about it.
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Let’s not forget operation wetback.
US slipped into ethnic cleansing so smoothly, you know it’s always been who we are.
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If someone used lethal force in this kind of instance, I'm sure they could claim self-defense.... if they were alive for their court day.
Someone comes at me with a weapon and doesn't identify themselves, they're getting a couple rounds to the chest.
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they already talked about retraining camps for kids, disabled, etc
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If U believe in democracy placed 1 of these on your lawn 4 everybody 2 see. People could see that not just on the weekends but during the week, they R not alone, especially in RED (I live in Oklahoma) states! There R more defending democracy than R trying 2 destroy it. #OneIfByLand2025 #NoKingEver
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Some Italians were also put in camps. The govt's position also conveyed the sentiment that it was ok to hate certain ethnicities so there was a lot of unofficial abuse going on as well
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By no coincidence at all, this administration has removed all of the internment-related signage at Manzanar National Historic Site.
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It did happen here. Twice. Once to Native Americans and then to black people.

Had Hi***r done what he did 90 years earlier then America might have helped him.
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💯 American History! We don't need to look anywhere else!
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What happened to you, your family, and the thousands of other Japanese Americans is a national disgrace that these cruel assholes are running proud to replicate 😡😡😡
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As an American friend of mine who is of Japanese extraction (her parents and other relatives were rounded up), internment camps is a soft term and fundamentally incorrect. These were concentration camps for racially Japanese Americans. Internment camps were for foreigners.
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We don't need this shit again
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www.facebook.com/share/r/1C4j8xXWVh/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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In 1942, the Supreme Court supported those actions which became a black stain on U.S. history.

As well their actions today.
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Many of my students choose to read your graphic novel “They Called Us Enemy “ during my non fiction choice unit. ❤️
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If you think it can't happen here: it's ALREADY happening here, now!
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Nowadays it's not even just soldiers. It's anyfecker who wants to dress up as an ICEnik and intimidate/kidnap people.
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It happened to my ancestors, too, only there are still reservations.
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😞
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Hai hai.

But hey, that free trauma though, that shit is intergenerational. That's the real quality stuff. I don't want to brag, but I have 3 generations worth.

Also, for those wondering about the glorious consolation prize of our very own reservations, my current view:

I'm in the ritzy section.
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In 1942 it was the Japanese, in 2025 it's immigrants, exlusively from our southern border, and soon enough it'll be everyone who doesn't look, think, act and pray the way Trump and Miller think America should look, think, act and pray.
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Former enslaved Black Americans migrated from the South to Los Angeles in two major waves, seeking better economic opportunities and to escape racial violence and discrimination. shaping the demographics and culture of Los Angeles, particularly in areas like South Los Angeles and Central Avenue.
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And famously, Compton.
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I’m so sorry you are having to live through this again. This is not what this country stands for. This is fascism through and through.
RISE UP!
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Trump the American Hitler
SS Gestapo & sycophants
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They are arresting them when they go to immigration court doing what they need to do to become legal. It's a good way to create a mistrust of your legal systems. Who's next ? 👀😢
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This army of thugs was not built in seven months. Silence during Democratic administrations allows it to continue to grow.
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Time to get the hell out of the country if you're able. 🙏Things will only get worse.
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I have said it before; but, it deserves to be repeated: I deeply regret that men in our country would even consider that there was any shred of decency in that 😢 I was not there; but, plz accept my apologies
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Let’s just make sure that, once the opportunity to do so emerges, we do not withdraw into civility and let all these lawless fascists go free. Those supporting the overthrow of the United States are people who BELONG in internment camps, and every one of them will need to be raided and rounded up.
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and every one of those kidnapping thugs who has no badge ID and whereas the face mask will need to be subject to massive civil suits whenever they can be identified.
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Happened to my father in law in California
He had jumped ship in New York from Germany
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Unpleasant as it undoubtedly was, the fact that America was at war with Japan, which had just launched an unprovoked attack on America, gave a legitimate pretext for interring Japanese Americans.

There is no such pretext for what the US government is currently doing.
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“legitimate”❔
funny then, how this did NOT happen to Germans & Italians (aka white people) #WWII #Japanese = #YellowMenace VS #Nazi #German #fascist #Italian
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There was no legitimate pretext even with Pearl Harbor. They were still Americans who had their rights violated and their lives stripped away from them without due process.
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My first Sensei, here in Hawaii, was one of the Nisei Soldiers who fought in WWII to prove loyalty to America and to prove that he and his family were citizens. His name was Shigeru Fujimoto. And I hate the horrible ignorance of racism with all my being! Ignorant ice agents must be stopped!
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Purely coincidentally but I’m currently watching The Terror:Infamy for the first time. The supernatural aspect pales in comparison to the descent into authoritarianism and brutality of the internment camps.
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Thank you for never being afraid to speak out. What happened to you is wrong. What's happening to so many others now is wrong. We *MUST* stand together and do everything in our power as individuals, as communities, and as a collective, to stand up against tyranny. Thank you for all you do. 🖤
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It’s happened here again and again. And it’s happening now. Most people just don’t think it will happen to them
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💙💯🙏
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And lest we forget, it was a Democrat behind it.
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Yes. Dennis Kato sensei teaches about the Japanese Internment. It changed my way of thinking. I took it online through OLLI UVA.
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Should we all start cosplaying like them and wear dog collars? Seriously - these nazi goons with face masks, unmarked cars, etc. - what if the rest of us dressed like priests/ministers? 🍀
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If you think you can sit back and watch this shit happening all over, think again. If you are unwilling to fight, and fight hard for everyone's freedom, you will be next to be drug off to a concentration camp.
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Bless you
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It’s happened many times in many forms in the US that we choose to forget. Mexicans and other Central Americans today as regionally native mixed descent are being treated like Franco Americans were a generation or two ago. By more recent NA immigrants! This ‘country’ is based on a lot of ‘othering.’
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Also need to say - I am so sorry this happened to you, Mr. Takei, and so impressed and inspired by who you became.
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I'm so sorry Uncle George. That was unforgivable and I thank you for testifying before hostile congress re unfair treatment of others. We made the trek to McKinney, Texas to see the awful wooden "houses" on stilts people were forced to live in. It's humbling. Husband's BFF was half Japanese. Cried.
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Where are these in McKinney? I live near by. I googled and couldn’t find any info
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My mother in law was one of the interned.
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Thank you Mr Takei for refreshing everyone's memories. It was a hideous thing, and it still is.
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I remember you kept a lot of us going during Covid. I even accidentally joined one of your online meetings and I think I saw your surprised look before I got off. Anyway, thank you for sticking it out with us. Star Trek before Star Wars 🥳✊👊
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I feel like America is being punished for all of its past atrocities, and it is our duty to finally STAND UP, SPEAK OUT against the evils in our land. We are all one. A better world awaits. 🤍
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i just don’t understand how they legally do en mass these things to people, that are illegal if done by one normal citizen. The more i learn, the more I realize, the Government doesn’t have legal codes to abide by, it enforces law on us, but isn’t obligated to follow those they enforce.
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But they’d have to build these camps. Trump doesn’t have the camps needed to do massive arrests. They don’t even have enough detention centers for their ‘illegal’ hunt.
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El Salvador & maybe Somalia 👇

youtu.be/HleXLd-2VDA?feature=shared
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The way this Administration has been behaving. I would guess that they sent some citizens down to San Salvador.
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This is trump’s Ice Age.
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💔
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Makes me sick
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...and in the south, they came armed, masked in hoods, and ended many lives in nooses
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70% of white males and 52% of white women voted For Trump. Majority of whites are flaming racists. I want a cosmopolitan multi-cultural nation but too many didn't vote. America's has an ugly history that keeps coming back besides all the progress made in 250 years..
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www.civilbeat.org/2025/06/kirstin-downey-streetfront-exhibit-brings-internment-camp-history-downtown/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky
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That phrase calling them "unidentified masked men" is exactly how they should be referred to in every report like this.
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It was wrong then and it’s incredibly wrong now. History repeating itself. Can’t learn doomed to repeat. We are all in danger. Unless you’re wildly rich. #EatTheRich #End47Early
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It happened before 1092, when colonizers murdered 95% of the people Indigenous to this land so they could steal the land. All of this land, y'all is #StolenLand #CulturalGenocide#LandBack
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Before 1092?
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JD Vance, Mike Johnson, House&Senate republicans, Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Roberts, Gorsuch, are aiding and abetting accomplices to trump’s lawlessness and should all be removed from office. Fox propaganda should face charges and fines for all their lies/defamation.
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You'd think that we'd learn from the lessons of the past, but we CLEARLY do not.
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Comparable
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And Operation Wetback
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You looked different! This has happened so many times since 1933 also voices were different. Yeah my dad saw a black man the first time in 1940 at age 7 but it was curiosity not racism. The HATE (also for LBTQI Hater Rowling) came with the FAR right and it's hate filled acolytes.
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Never forget the soldiers recruited from these camps who gave their lives for a country they still loved despite this treatment.
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There needs to be more than the heart icon - I see this and it breaks my heart
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⚠️Send the following to your reps:
🇺🇲Dear Congressperson, my ask of you:
1. Object to unanimous consent in the Senate.
2. Never vote in favor of Republican legislation.
3. Blue slip every judicial nominee.
4. Vote out Schumer.
🇺🇲Use these like the superpowers they are.
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I have no doubt it can and will happen here if people don’t start taking the threat of Trump and his MAGA cult members seriously.
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All has been said and done before
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Thank you, shared.
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it happened in canada too. even our revered dr david suzuki and his family were stripped of everything; house, business,almost all of their possessions; and shipped to an internment camp in the slocan valley for the duration of ww2. his dad was separated from them and forced to work elsewhere. 💔🇨🇦🕊
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😢
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💔
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I'm sorry, I was unaware of this atrocity.💙
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💔💔💔
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Very sad.?
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The idea that he is making this happen, getting rid of 3000 people a day just so they won't be here to vote😵
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Not many more things at this scale that occured last century that our public schools just gloss over more than the WWII internment camps.

Never forget how cruel this country has been and still can be.
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Also:
From Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”
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💔🤬🤬
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To all of my Black sis and bros. Get active, stay active. If Maggot Trump and his nazi regime are successful, they are coming for us. Believe we are next. We must let them know, don't come for us unless we call you! We are not safe. They hate us more than any other group. Get Busy!
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This is why people have to be ready at a moments notice to fight back.
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And American citizens supported that as i remember. They even bought their homes and furniture after they were sent to the camps which is even scarier
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So sad, sorry❣️
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It wasn’t the Nazi Gestapo back then, but similar tactics and Trump’s Gestapo are doing it today! Trump has already said he’s going after his “enemies & he’s doing it!
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😥
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How do we stop this, George? What advice can you give us to not let this happen? We need help, we need a leader to show us the way. Someone who knows how to beat this
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Thank you Mr Takei. Little is ever said about the German Americans and Italian Americans who were also interred. Not as many and not as long. Nobody mentions the countries that ignored what the nazis were doing.
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German Americans tried to hide their ethnicity out of fear of being arrested as spies. Never knew this until I started researching why my mother didn’t speak German or allow her mother to speak it to us.
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Sincere apologies. I am certain it was life altering for everyone.
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When paranoia and fear erases humanity. When dumb people follow orders from despots.
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We should not be doomed to repeat some of our worst moments in history…. but magazealots have likely banned that book from their library. #LiveLongandProsper @georgetakei.bsky.social
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For once... im ok with the "stand your ground" laws. Everywhere. If an unidentified agent tries to take you out of a van... shoot first, ask later.

Frankly... im sorry George. I ask my fellow independents and liberals to arm up and learn the rights gun laws.

Not even a year in.
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Started right after the start of the Constitution... with native populations.... but we had been improving somewhat... till 2016
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If you agree, please get on the phone or e-mail tell your reps in DC what you think about ICE/mass deportations. It only takes a few minutes and it doesn't cost any money. We don't need money in politics. We just need people to participate.
www.nationalfinancialplan.com
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I know you know more about this than most of us want to, George. Thank you for reminding us of what we are capable of enduring and capable of besting. Hopefully, like Orwell, we read it as a warning and not an instruction manual.
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I thought we learned something. Turns out, we learned how to repeat the worst part of ourselves.
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IF THEY TAKE RIGHTS FROM THEM THEY CAN TAKE THEM FROM YOU. dont let your rights go the way of an orange spray tan in the wind
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I love you George Takei, you are the very definition of a patriot. Keep up the good fight my friend!!
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Dear Sweet George, I am beyond sorry this country inflicted such atrocities on you, your family and so many people.

Our traumas will never equate, but please know that my kind, caring and loving heart would have fought back for you to my death.

My worst traumas in life happened at PH, HI.

❤️
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And they are already hauling away regular citizens, and thereby normalizing it. Congress, show get some balls.
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In the run-up to the first gulf war, the FBI interviewed middle easterners in my hometown, most of whom were mutli-generations born there. I realized then that the internment camps could easily come back.
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Seems like they can do whatever the hell they want! 🤬🤬🤬
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They are budgeting and planning for it to happen here again! And spineless Democratic party leaders allow business to go on as usual!
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We continue to be astonished by the Nazis & the people who stood by & saying we wouldn't let that happen. It's 2025 & it happening & we are standing by. Lessons were not learned.
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Now you can't tell if it is some radical group, like the Proud Boys, or what? It is flat out crazy right now.
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Oh, no doubt they will do it again. There is nothing holy or righteous about Americans, contrary to what we have been indoctrinated to believe in.

Given the opportunity, we would just do what our society and countless others have done in history.
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once More #WithAltText
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and it's only 150 days in
once they get the routine down pat
it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they are going to do next after they run out of migrants in 150 weeks
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bsky.app/profile/nancy-oshea.bsky.social/post/3ls2ygba7xk26
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WE THE PEOPLE must post every picture/video of these kidnappers. If we’re able, post their home address, where they and their spouses work, where their children go to school and their names. If we’re able, conduct citizens arrests wherever they are, etc.
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Thanks George. If America is to progress it must accept the mistakes it has made. As adults we recognize our mistakes and resolve not to make them again. That's how we grow.
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It should never be forgotten. Canada did the same during WW2 to families of Japanese descent- they lost everything and were shipped to internment camps.
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Exactly ! It’s sad they have not learned! 😢
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And US CITIZENS have been deported before!!!!! www.history.com/articles/great-depression-repatriation-drives-mexico-deportation
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And more than once! Within the span of twenty years!
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I recently saw Forgiveness--a play in Stratford Ontario, based on a Canada Reads finalist book from 2018. It is the story of a Canadian soldier detained in a Japanese camp, in parallel with a Japanese Canadian detained in Canadian internment.
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There is no both-sides of the situation--it is a sobering reflection of the awful way people treat each other. We need to do better. I highly recommend both the book and the play!
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It’s happening.
America no longer the free.
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And 1492 they did it to us Natives. Odd how these numbers didn't catch my eye til now. 🤔
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I remember, they put you and your family in the camp at Santa Anita race track. Only a few miles away from my home. Thank you for sticking with the U.S. after such a horrific ordeal as that. You are one of our greatest treasures.
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It's happening here
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