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They Called Us Enemy is a graphic novel memoir of George Takei’s childhood in Rohwer and Tule Lake, as well as a reflection on how these experiences influenced his later life.

What I liked:

• Takei’s child’s-eye view of the camps, combined with his present-day commentary, really brought together the experience(s) of JA incarceration for me in a way other works have not. His firsthand recollections illuminate the complex meanings of “resistance” in the JA community at this time, and the many ways incarcerated JAs kept moving forward in spite of (or in defiance of) their circumstances.
• One aspect of the book I especially enjoyed is Takei’s close observations and analysis of his father’s and mother’s actions. I think most nikkei would agree the camps played a significant role in shaping JA community mentality in the years after the war, and that this mentality continues to permeate our spaces in various ways. At the same time, I’m curious about the origins of this mentality – specifically, in the camps, when issei, nisei, and sansei intermingled in close quarters, what kinds of clashes of opinion occurred? Some of these conflicts are more widely documented than others, such as the loyalty questionnaires and enlisting in the US military. But on the day-to-day level, especially in the early years of the camps, when these people were just learning how to live with each other, what kinds of differences did they encounter in one another, and how did they react? In hindsight, it’s easy to generalize about certain groups, but at the time, I imagine there were so many points of divergence, and not just by generation.
• On a related note, I wonder what my grandfather would have thought of this book, especially the many sensitively depicted instances of cultural, personal, and ethical conflicts witnessed by Takei. The panels in which Takei confronts his father about leading their family into the camps rather than putting up a fight made me wonder if anyone in my family ever did the same thing. I assume my grandfather answered yes-yes to the questionnaire, since he was never relocated from Topaz, but what were his reasons for doing so? As Takei demonstrates through his own family’s situation, responding to the questionnaire went far beyond how loyal or disloyal any given JA might have felt toward the emperor. In my grandfather’s case, I don’t know how much English he understood by the time he was incarcerated – as far as I know, the questionnaires were not distributed in Japanese – and I wonder, if only English copies were available, how many issei fully understood what was being asked, or took it very seriously?
• Takei consistently reiterates how he, his family, and other incarcerated JAs questioned why they were put in camps. He highlights the confusion and uncertainty of the incarceration, and candidly discusses the racism underlining the US government’s actions. It’s difficult to determine solely from reading this book how far his activism extends (I have not been following him very closely on social media) – for example, where do indigenous peoples fit into his vision of social justice? – but I feel he has made a meaningful contribution to nikkei-authored literature on the camps, and I hope he continues to pursue his activism with the same directness demonstrated in his writing.
• “Sakana beach”…I didn’t get it at first, but it was absolutely hilarious afterwards.
• Harmony Becker’s art is incredibly engaging – especially her ability to capture a wide range of emotions via facial expressions. I’m so glad a nikkei artist was chosen for this work – I’m not sure I would have read it otherwise, given my feelings about non-Japanese-created visual depictions of the camps. I don’t know much about Becker’s background at the moment, but I noticed several techniques highly reminiscent of manga in this book and I wonder what, if any, Japanese art forms she considers an influence on her own work.
• I appreciate the closing reference to the unjust treatment of immigrants by the US government – I see more and more activism in the JA community linking our histories with current events, and I hope even more nikkei will be inspired to act after reading Takei’s story.

What I learned:

• Did I know some nikkei chose to renounce their US citizenship before the end of the war? I suppose this is implied for US-born nikkei who voluntarily went to Japan before the camps opened, which I did know about, but I can’t recall if I read about nikkei renouncing their citizenship in the camps. At any rate, new or old, this is definitely a topic I plan to read more about. My grandfather would never have had this choice as issei, but I wonder if he ever considered returning to Japan while he was in Topaz, or at any point before or after.
• I had no idea Takei marched with Dr. King! It would be interesting to read about this period in Takei’s life – I hope it’s covered in his autobiography, which is on my TBR list.

Questions I had:

• How much of the script did Takei draft himself? To what extent were the cowriters involved? How did Takei envision the role of his cowriters in this very personal project?
• How did Eisinger and Scott come to be attached to this project? Specifically, why were two (apparently) white men chosen to be cowriters on a work centering Japanese American experiences? There are plenty of graphic novelists of color, including nikkei, who might have been tapped for this project…it would be interesting to know how this team of creators was assembled.

Follow-up:

• According to the short bio at the end, Harmony Becker has created several comics, which I look forward to reading!
• Tule Lake is definitely a camp I need to learn more about – I’ve seen many nikkei writers discussing it, but I have yet to read a full history.