“Oh my.” George Takei said, wide-eyed with a big smile as the IU Auditorium audience applauded his entrance to the stage Tuesday night.
The IU Union Board and Themester program joined together to bring the actor and activist to the IU Auditorium.
The talk walked the audience through Takei’s life, spanning from his upbringing in a Japanese-American internment camp to his decision to come out as a gay man in 2005.
Yasmine Raouf, Union Board lectures director, said Themester’s focus for the Fall 2017 semester is diversity, difference and otherness. She said Takei represents all of those things, and has, as an Asian-American actor, been able to break out of typecasting throughout his career.
“He’s just done a lot to be inclusive to everyone and show the otherness of people and to normalize it, for a lack of a better word,” Raouf said. “And just make sure people are respectful and understanding of what it takes to go through all those difficult processes in your life.”
Takei said he vividly remembers waking up a few weeks after his fifth birthday to soldiers banging on his family’s door early one morning to take them to the internment camps in 1942.
“We weren't the enemy and we weren't aliens, but we were treated as both.” Takei said.
He talked about the beginning of his passion for advocacy, when his father took him to a campaign office and told him it is important to be active.
“My father told me, ‘You have to keep on keeping on,’” Takei said. “Democracy moves slowly, but if we are actively pushing for what our democracy is about, you can find fruit there."
He lobbied for civil rights and worked on behalf of his own experiences, testifying in the name of Japanese Americans to receive an apology for the internment camps of World War II.
But one issue he stayed quiet about was one that felt most organic to him, he said — his sexuality.
“Here I was advocating for other issues, not in that campaign," Takei said. "I had little needle pricks up and down my body all the time, it's a torturous life to live."
But after former Gov. of California Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation in 2005 for marriage equality, Takei realized enough was enough.
“I sat back and said, ‘I’ve had an all right career, but it's time to make some changes.'” Takei said.
He came out as gay to the press soon after, blasting Schwarzenegger’s veto. He went on to be a staunch supporter of the marriage equality movement.
Lastly, in accordance with his fervent social media presence with 2.6 million Twitter followers, the talk ended with a Q&A from Twitter users.
Jane McLeod, chair of the Themester planning committee, said she thought Takei would appeal to many people with lots of different backgrounds and experiences.
She said the Q&A was an important aspect of the event as well, to give people an opportunity to engage with this semester’s theme.
“The Q&A gives people an opportunity to start where they are and reach out to that person who is there to speak to them and then hear back to how they can reach back to them,” McLeod said.
One question asked if he gets excited about seeing Asian Americans in the entertainment business.
Takei said he doesn't get excited when he just sees any Asian Americans performing, he's used to the stereotypes.
“I get excited when I see something that's wonderful and rare,” Takei said. “What I am particularly excited about in this day and age is now we are seeing Asian-American playwrights, director and producers as part of the industry and the stories are told from our perspective.”
But he said it is even more important to see Asian Americans in the audiences of these performances in the industry.
“We have to do our work to get our community to support our artists and our work, unless we do that it's going to be very difficult to change.” Takei said.
The last question: “How did it feel to sit in the Captain’s chair for the first time?”
“Glorious.” Takei said.
