"I feel Justice Thomas has abdicated and abandoned his African American heritage by claiming slavery did not strip dignity from human beings."
- George Takei
According to George Takei, in his racially tinged tirade against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, his dignity went away the moment he and his family were forced out of their home at the gunpoints of American soldiers acting on orders to extricate over 100,000 Japanese American citizens from their homes and placing them into internment camps.
But the Soviet soldier in the photo below should attest otherwise. Even after being captured, stripped of his freedom, he maintained his dignity by staring down Heinrich Himmler in an act of defiance.
The fact that Takei is here to tell his story about being humiliated and imprisoned at the hands of the US Government, the fact that he never let that stop him from pursuing his dreams means that he never lost his dignity. Harriet Tubman also proved, that even after being beaten severely (even causing a head injury which led to bouts of fainting) by slave masters, she kept her dignity by giving other slaves their freedom, leading them across the Mason Dixon Line.
Even Anne Frank maintained her aspiration to be a journalist, as Jews all across Europe were being persecuted unmercifully by the Nazis, saying she wanted to be a writer, to be useful or to bring enjoyment to people she never met.
Finally, even the Japanese children being held in internment camps, or Nisei (children who were born in countries other than Japan) held about themselves their dignity while, like Takei, being imprisoned in internment camps.
Dignity never dies, history proves it. Sometimes, dignity is all you have. The only way people lose their dignity is if they surrender it willingly.
- George Takei
According to George Takei, in his racially tinged tirade against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, his dignity went away the moment he and his family were forced out of their home at the gunpoints of American soldiers acting on orders to extricate over 100,000 Japanese American citizens from their homes and placing them into internment camps.
But the Soviet soldier in the photo below should attest otherwise. Even after being captured, stripped of his freedom, he maintained his dignity by staring down Heinrich Himmler in an act of defiance.
The fact that Takei is here to tell his story about being humiliated and imprisoned at the hands of the US Government, the fact that he never let that stop him from pursuing his dreams means that he never lost his dignity. Harriet Tubman also proved, that even after being beaten severely (even causing a head injury which led to bouts of fainting) by slave masters, she kept her dignity by giving other slaves their freedom, leading them across the Mason Dixon Line.
Even Anne Frank maintained her aspiration to be a journalist, as Jews all across Europe were being persecuted unmercifully by the Nazis, saying she wanted to be a writer, to be useful or to bring enjoyment to people she never met.
Finally, even the Japanese children being held in internment camps, or Nisei (children who were born in countries other than Japan) held about themselves their dignity while, like Takei, being imprisoned in internment camps.
Dignity never dies, history proves it. Sometimes, dignity is all you have. The only way people lose their dignity is if they surrender it willingly.
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