Hi there. It’s been a long while since I’ve taken to this blog to actually write something, but given the events of the last couple of weeks, it would be remiss of me not to.
As many of you know, I am currently working on a Broadway musical, Allegiance, alongside actor, activist, co-Tumblr blogger and all-around badass George Takei. At the intermission of a performance of the Broadway production of In the Heights, he spoke with Allegiance co-creators Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione on the helplessness felt by his own father during the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War 2. That was the genesis of what has become our show. I guess that means Lin-Manuel Miranda can watch us whenever the heck he wants (I don’t think we can thank him enough).
In 2009 when I became involved with Allegiance, never did I believe that our show would become as politically and historically relevant as it is proving to be today. I thought, this would be something of a history lesson, showing one family’s fortitude in the midst of harrowing circumstances in this shameful chapter of American history. 120,000 Japanese-Americans, majority of them American citizens, had their constitutional rights egregiously violated. At gunpoint, they were rounded up taking only what they could physically carry. This was the case with George’s family. His mother, with tears streaming down her face, carried the youngest child in one arm and a filled-to-capacity duffel bag in the other while wearing many layers of clothes. There was a massive land grab. Property, businesses and income were taken. Homes and belongings were sold for pennies on the dollar. And when these Americans were released from the camps, they were each only given a bus ticket and $25. Whoops.
When I learned about this dark and embarrassing chapter of history, I thought that there would be no way… no bleeping way this would or could ever happen again. I mean, this was America. Lady Liberty herself welcomes the tired, poor, huddled masses, raising her torch high with the promise of a better life for them. America, where all men were considered equal, and all citizens of this country were protected under the constitution.
Well, it’s starting to look like some people are more equal than others.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, every Japanese-American was looked upon with suspicion. What was once this peaceful community suddenly became the enemy, simply because they looked like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor. The old man playing hanafuda (a Japanese card game) was suddenly a spy. The sweet lady hanging laundry was now plotting against Americans.
There was political rhetoric hurled against the Japanese-Americans. The governor of Kansas declared that no Japanese-American was welcome in his state, and the governor of Wyoming threatened that any Japanese-American that made it to his state would be found hanging from every pine tree (interesting… Heart Mountain, where much of Allegiance takes place, is in Wyoming).
Never again, I thought. There was no bleeping way this kind of blatant racism and political rhetoric would ever see the light of day. Not in America, and certainly not in 2015.
I once naively thought Allegiance would be somewhat escapist art, harkening back to a time long ago and far away, taking us – the actors and the audience – on a journey to a place in time that we would never dream of seeing in our lifetimes. But we were wrong.
That wasn’t lost on me at one performance of Allegiance. As I looked across the Kimura kitchen table to co-stars Chris Nomura and George Takei and looked up at Telly Leung, it dawned on me that this family could’ve been one from Lebanon or Pakistan or Mexico, listening to the president declare war on their homeland. “This will not be good for us. We must keep our heads down.”
As the play went on, more lines and lyrics began to ring like a death knell. “We look like enemy, they see disloyal. They talk of liberty? All empty words. They promise justice for all people? Look around! We are dirt upon the ground.” That’s just from one song, titled Allegiance.
Allegiance is no longer a journey back in time to somewhere now far removed. It is a searing look into what actually happens when fear and racism are fed. It is prescient, and because of that, it is frightening. At least it is to me.
Take a good, hard look at what’s happening now. We can see the signs. It’s happening again. The racist rhetoric? The fear? The lack of political leadership? This is what happens when we bury all that is shameful in history.
We are doomed to repeat it.
snowghoul
titsay
gummygunk
origamiaround
romaincrisis
jacobvanloon
