George Takei, the actor/activist who calls himself a “proud gay Japanese-American” tells the story of how he and his family were taken from their home in 1942, and put in a prison camp.

Takei’s parents were both born in America. One in Sacramento, the other in San Francisco. They lived in Los Angeles and had two children. Takei was 5 years old in 1942.

The U.S. government simply rounded up all “Japanese-Americans” as “enemy non-aliens” and put them in prison camps. Their only crimes: The looked like Japanese, the enemy that had attacked Pearl Harbor and waged a war of conquest in the Pacific.

Just like the Germans rounded up Jews as “enemies of the state” and put them into prison camps, Americans did the same.

It’s shocking how easily we are willing to undermine our own Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our freedom, give up due process, — so we can hate and abuse those that we decide, as a group, we don’t like anymore. It happened in 1942, and it can easily happen again today.

Here is Takei’s inspiring story in his own words: