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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGeorge Takei's Facebook Letter to Ahmed Mohamed
http://fox2now.com/2015/09/17/george-takeis-breathtaking-facebook-letter-to-ahmed-mohamed/https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei
TRANSCRIPT:
Dear Ahmed,
Ive never met you, and its quite possible youve never heard of me, but my name is George Takei. I am many decades older than you, but your story and your experiencewhen you were arrested at your school simply because you brought in a clock for your teacher--struck a chord with me. You see, when I was a bit younger than you, I was also viewed by others as the enemy and treated as such, simply because I happened to look like the people who had attacked America.
Like you, I was just a kid trying to find his place in the world. I loved my country, and I looked forward to all the opportunities and challenges ahead. But my childhood was interrupted by fear and ignorance. When the authorities came for you because they believed you had built a bomb, I was reminded, in a way, of when the army came for us. They ordered us out of our home believing we were suspicious people because of our names, our faces, our ancestry. I spent my childhood in an internment camp because of that fear and ignorance.
But I want you to know, while America may have done a terrible thing to me and my family, and to 120,000 other Japanese Americans, I have great hope for this country, and I believe we do learn. There was a Japanese word we often said in the camps: Gaman. It means to keep on keeping on, with dignity and fortitude. I think you understand this word already. While certain school officials and police officers may have shown you the worst side of our nation, I understand many others have since shown you the best side. I was touched to hear you say that we all have to be true to ourselves.
Ahmed, you are now part of the story of America, and many will learn from your fine example. I see great things ahead for you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
daleanime
(17,796 posts)George.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,181 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)Glassunion
(10,201 posts)Keep it to WF 5 or lower.
The Federation Council makes rules for a reason.
longship
(40,416 posts)Glassunion
(10,201 posts)The engines are fine, it's the damage to space time...
If your recall, scientist Serova opened a subspace rift by overloading her ships engines to a warp core breach in the Hekaran sector. This demonstrated that conventional warp engines did in fact cause severe damage to the fabric of spacetime. So, to slow the rate of damage, the Federation Council shared the findings with all known warp capable species and imposed a speed restriction of warp factor 5 on all Federation vessels in all but extreme emergencies.
longship
(40,416 posts)I bow to your geekyness.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)conversation a few days ago?
longship
(40,416 posts)Capt.Rocky300
(1,005 posts)Serova didn't sacrifice herself to prove the damage caused by warp engines until many Stardates later. There were many Generations between. Capt. Sulu was probably dead of old age by then.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)Won't anybody think of the children!!??!?!
nightscanner59
(802 posts)Oh wait a minute. The ilk wouldn't even Spock-grok the concept.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)of any of this at all. I just watched.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)So damages caused far in Sulu's future could have ripples back to his time.
Just think of how far and wide through the Tardis universe the tear in space time in Amy Pond's house affected things! http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Time_field
spiderpig
(10,419 posts)I read everything he says - some for laughs, some for tears.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Thank you, GT!
Thank you, DinahMoeHum!
yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)words, and now I have another to cherish, coming from Takei-sama. Arigatou!! Gaman! I am going to keep that posted near me at all times!
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,721 posts)ZM90
(706 posts)There are some bad people in America but we have really good people too .
underpants
(182,788 posts)mountain grammy
(26,619 posts)To being profiled and detained, or even worse, by government officials.
sarge43
(28,941 posts)Rock on, Mr Takei and oh yeah, LLAP.
Gothmog
(145,152 posts)ReactFlux
(62 posts)Thank you, George
LostOne4Ever
(9,288 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)Good morning, DU
tabasco
(22,974 posts)A voice of reason and compassion that is so important to us.
JackInGreen
(2,975 posts)I'll serve on Captain Sulus boat.
flamin lib
(14,559 posts)He'll have his pick of universities to attend and the city of Irving and MacArthur High School will pay his tuition.
Blatant discrimination, holding a minor without parents being notified and interrogating said minor without parents of legal guardian present is serious stuff. Irving PD and IISD hasn't heard the last of Ahmed.
MurrayDelph
(5,294 posts)several decades ago. (He was jogging in LA, and started to cross the street without looking just as I was driving by).
deutsey
(20,166 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Well done!
dembotoz
(16,802 posts)The2ndWheel
(7,947 posts)when you were arrested at your school simply because you brought in a clock for your teacher
but that's not why it became an issue. The overreaction from the police and school are now the story, and rightfully so, because it's all ridiculous, but the initial part of it isn't simply because he brought in a clock for his teacher. Or that he made the clock at home. Or that he's smart. I'm sure being a Muslim played a part in things eventually happening the way they did, but he brought something to school unannounced, for no official reason, and it started making a noise, when it was concealed in some fashion.
It was all an honest mistake on Mohamed's part, or not even a mistake at all, but to say that it's simply because it's a clock, or he's smart, or whatever, is glossing over a fairly decent size of the story.
It's obviously a clock, now. Anyone looking at it clearly knows that, now. Show that same picture of the clock a week ago, with no context to shape your perception, and my guess is that not everyone is going to be as smart as they are right now.
beac
(9,992 posts)I highly recommend "To Be Takei" to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
staggerleem
(469 posts)... our first semester lab project was to build an AM radio. We pasted a schematic to a wooden board, placed each component over its schematic symbol, and soldered the parts together as indicated. This was in the late 1970s, and I took NYC trains to school. Also I'm blond-haired and blue-eyed, so I pass for white, even though I'm Jewish. (The REAL haters will always find SOMETHING to hate, don't'cha know?)
Even so, I do not think I could carry that project back and forth to school on ANY city's subway system today. Even back then, if I gave someone the fish-eye, and fiddled a knob while carrying that item, they'd usually change cars, even if that meant surrendering their seat to me. Never got arrested for it, though - never even had a transit cop talk to me about it.
kimbutgar
(21,137 posts)His words brought tears to my eyes.
I have met and read about many people who were imprisoned in these camps. It was a smear in our history.
I fear though sometimes that today's current xenophobic Republican Party would carry out this type of atrocity if they gained control of the three branches and it wouldn't be just Muslims but anybody speaking out against them. That said, we all must ensure that we vote and make sure they are never get the chance and they are marginalized like Barry Goldwater was in 1964.
Ironic Barry looks like a moderate now.
merrily
(45,251 posts)whopis01
(3,511 posts)klook
(12,154 posts)young Ahmed Mohamed has a resilience that will carry him far.
Score a big one for the geeks.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)the ten coolest people on the planet. Maybe even 20% cooler.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)niyad
(113,278 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I can imagine someone who is fascinated by science having never watched Star Trek.