🧵**CALLING ALL FRIENDS, ADVOCATES, AND ACTIVISTS** A leaked e-mail from a Texas Department of Protective Safety trooper documents the remarkably cruel measures Governor Greg Abbott has instituted at the border to deter crossings. twitter.com/i/web/status/1… These include hidden razor wire traps, the withholding of water even in extreme heat, and orders to push migrants—including children and infants—back into the Rio Grande where they might drown.

Drum roll please…

I have a new publication called The Big Picture! There my team and I will connect with you directly, not just about current events and culture, but about how it all fits together within larger trends and ideas.

I’ve been around nearly 86 years… /1 In my time I’ve seen and lived through much.

I survived World War II and the internment of my family and community.

I saw Jim Crow and segregation fall during the Civil Rights Movement. /2

Today is Pearl Harbor Day in the U.S., a “day that will live in infamy” for the unprovoked attack by the Empire of Japan upon U.S. forces stationed in Hawaii. But it also marked a dark turning point for Japanese Americans, who overnight became the “enemy.” At age 4, I was /1 classified as 4c, enemy alien, even though I was born in the U.S. Within a few months, the internment of our community was ordered by FDR with broad support from the American people, who turned their backs upon us. We lost our homes, our businesses and our freedoms. /2

My feed today has all kinds of right wing posts in it from people I definitely do not follow. These are not retweets or likes by others. Just random far-right tweets. I feel sullied by the experience. Example. I don’t follow this asshat. Two accounts I do follow are noted. But it’s not supposed to be in my feed.

I want to address the younger folks here. Joe Biden and the Democrats did something amazing for the planet, despite an evenly divided senate where any one senator could hold the whole deal hostage (and some did for many months). In the bill he is signing today is the largest /1 investment in green technologies in our recorded history. The climate activists and policy folks who pressed for it agree that it gives us a chance to meet our goal of reducing fossil fuels by some 40 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030. That could keep our planet from /2

I have been truly moved by the tributes and messages honoring the life and work of Nichelle Nichols, our very own Lieutenant and later Commander Uhura on Star Trek. Although our original series ran only three seasons, we became bonded /1 as the fans of our show organized, convened and ultimately pressed for movies and spin-offs of the groundbreaking show. Nichelle and I spent the following decades together as not only colleagues from the bridge of the Enterprise, but as lifelong friends. /2

Today’s decision by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade feels shocking, despite us having known it probably was coming. It feels so very wrong because this is the first time in our history that a constitutionally guaranteed right, one that was granted /1 by the High Court some 50 years ago, has been stripped away by that same Court after those very justices pledged to honor existing law and precedent. They lied to us. We must not let that stand.

On top of the fear and dread /2

Listen up, friends. I’ve lived a long time in this country. I’ve experienced a lot. And I know, and have a deep sense, when things are beginning to spiral.

We are at that point. We’ve been approaching it for some time, but the warning signs were in smaller, discrete pieces. /1 The problems are systemic: Gerrymandered maps keep extremists in statehouses and Congress. A rigged Senate with an archaic filibuster rule blocks needed reform. Seats on the Supreme Court are stolen through cynical ploys. Money pours in to those who enable the corruption. /2

These are very trying times, friends. Going from Covid to a war in Europe reminds me of when we went from an attack on Pearl Harbor to the horrors of a Japanese American internment camp. The world can shift under your feet, and nothing can prepare you for the chaos of it. /1 But trying times are also periods of great personal strength and growth. You can surprise yourself with the resilience you build. As the Buddhist saying goes, “Wisdom is like rain water: It gathers in low places.” /2

I see people trying to parse the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida.

“It will only affect instruction, not discussions or conversations!”

“It doesn’t actually say ‘gay’ just ‘sexual orientation or gender identity!”

These are silly yet dangerous arguments. Make no mistake. /1 By limiting “classroom instruction” on these prohibited topics and failing to define what that even means, all while giving parents a private right of action to SUE the school district if the law is violated, this will have a chilling effect on free speech and education. /2

For the Japanese American community, today is a solemn day. It's the Day of Remembrance, the anniversary of FDR's Executive Order 9066, which ordered the internment of 120,000 persons of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were citizens of the United States. My family and I were kidnapped at gunpoint from our house in LA and transferred to two separate barbed wire-enclosed camps, the first in the swamps of Arkansas and the second in the harsh and barren wastelands of Northern California.

So, with this PowerPoint, they just expected to “slide” into a second term? Or was that just a big projection?

These days, a premium is being placed on whether white kids might feel bad about their own heritage after learning about things like American genocide, slavery or internment. But no one asks what it’s like for minority kids to learn about these things. /1 When I was growing up inside internment camps, my parents tried to shield me from the horror of what was happening. I even recited the Pledge of Allegiance daily from a classroom inside the barbed wire. “With liberty and justice for all,” I said, not grasping the irony. /2

When they put me, my family and my community into internment camps, it was already far past time to try and explain that Japanese Americans were loyal citizens. The agitators exploited racism that already existed to push us through those camp gates. /1 The only thing that would have made a difference is other communities standing up for us and saying this was wrong, this was Un-American. Instead, they were quiet, afraid to support a community under attack. /2

This is it. Twitter is all there is right now. Divert all power to forward tweet arrays!

Democrats are the party of accountability.

Republicans? Too scared of Dear Leader to ever hold him to account.

Cowards. Simpering sycophants. Feckless miscreants. I could go on. Unprincipled louts. Bloviating cockwombles. Fawning hypocrites.

Join me in raising awareness and funds for a cause near and dear to my heart by donating to @RealPrideLive’s #StonewallDay2021! Make a $10 donation and one lucky winner will be selected to introduce me virtually for Stonewall Day 2021! facebook.com/donate/7185232… 🏳️‍🌈@RealPrideLive, organizer of Stonewall Day, involves today's generation in the LGBTQ+ equality movement through activism, events, and community engagement. Pride Live stands committed to advancing full equality through community programming, activism, and awareness.

A Big Lie is one so colossal that nobody believes it would be said without there being some truth behind it. The Big Lie today is that the election was stolen. There is no truth behind it, but it is so devastating that many believe it must be true. It cannot be left to stand. /1 Ted Cruz and his ilk are repeating the Big Lie. He cites “allegations” of electoral fraud, in the absence of any evidence, to put our democracy on hold. A Big Lie gains strength through the retelling. If we fail to recognize the lie, we start down a dangerous path. /2

Listen up, folks. When I was a boy, politicians who were sworn to uphold the Constitution failed us, choosing instead to imprison my entire community of 120,000, most of us citizens. When we came out of the camps, we could have given up on America entirely. /1 But despite all we had been through those four years, we still believed in the promise of America. We didn’t seek vengeance, didn’t renounce our citizenship, didn’t call for those who had done this to us to be stripped of their power. We did something else entirely. /2

A thread.

When this current nightmare is past us, we must not forget that it happened. I have known an America that descended into fascism before, when my entire community on the West Coast, 120,000 of us, were rounded up because leaders made people afraid. We have... /1 to work very hard to ensure history does not repeat, because it will want to. The next time a demagogue comes, with fear and racism as his weapons, we must spot the danger earlier, not grow complacent, not say “both sides are bad.” That is a road to ruin. We must... /2

The system by which an original minority of privileged, white slave holders could hold on to power in America is known as the Electoral College. And it continues to poison our democracy today. But change is coming. Inexorably, and resoundingly, coming. /1 Very soon, that same Electoral College math, which has handed the White House and the Supreme Court to the political descendants of that original privileged minority, will begin to turn against them, and brutally. Texas looms large. Florida is shifting. /2