While reading They Called Us the Enemy the Japanese Americans were treated different due to the fact that they were Japanese. Many of the Japanese Americans were born in America or had been citizens for over 10 years, but many people chose to ignore that due to the fear of WW2 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Many Japanese people were called aliens and enemies of the state due to their heritage. In everyone’s eyes all Japanese people are the same even the Japanese Americans, and the Japanese Americans had to prove their loyalty to the state they’ve spent their lives in. In the story, I learned was that the Japanese Americans were allowed to leave the camps if they pledge allegiance to the America and lose their allegiance to Japan. George Takei’s family though refused to pledge and lose their Japanese heritage and was relocated to a different camp.

Later in life George Takei gets a job offer from Gene Roddenberry, to play a character that would properly represent Asian heritage. In earlier years asians in media were played by non-asians with many stereotypes such as being stingy, smart, and more but even with positive stereotypes like being smart it still has a negative affect due to it being a stereotype.

Male asian characters end up being a “karate master” or “nerdy math geek”, and for female characters they are depicted as “nerdy losers”. This causes many asian children to feel bad about themselves growing up.

As a child growing up I would wonder why there was no “people like me” in TV shows, and when there was I would wonder why they all acted like a caricature or a prop in a show. As George Takei states, when there were Asians in media they always were depicted negatively, nor were they even played by asian actors.

Many Asians weren’t even given the opportunity to be actors, even nowadays. Even with the Asian actors now many are only east asian, leaving southeast and south asians not represented in media.

With the newer generation asian culture and people are seen in a better light. In the show Fresh Off the Boat it became the first family centered show that promotes asian culture in a positive light. It also changes the outlook on asian characters in media. Turning Red and Everything Everywhere All at Once also promotes asian culture without mocking and creating stereotypes with its characters and plots.