Final answer:
George Takei's understanding of his internment during World War II has evolved from childhood innocence to informed critique, recognizing the grave injustice and racism involved. His later years have been dedicated to activism for redress and education about internment, marking an ongoing process of civil rights advocacy and governmental acknowledgment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Over time, George Takei's understanding of his internment during World War II evolved from a child's naive acceptance to an adult's informed critique of the injustices perpetrated by the U.S. government. Initially, as a child, Takei viewed the internment camps with a certain innocence and did not fully grasp the severity of the government's actions. However, as he grew older, he learned more about the political and social contexts of the internment, recognizing it as an unjust act of racism and a violation of civil liberties. In his 2014 TED Talk titled "Why I Love a Country That Once Betrayed Me," Takei reflects on his personal journey of understanding and forgiving the country that wronged him and his family, as well as many other Japanese Americans.
The internment of Japanese Americans was a result of prejudice and wartime hysteria, exemplified by the Korematsu case, where the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the internment camps. It wasn't until much later, through public pressure and advocacy by groups like the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), that the government began to acknowledge its mistakes. One of the key milestones in this shift was the eventual apology from the federal government and the reparations paid to internment survivors and their descendants in the 1970s and 1980s. Takei's later years have been devoted to activism and spreading awareness about this dark chapter in American history.
Furthermore, modern-day reflections on internment highlight the failure of constitutional checks on executive power during times of perceived national threat, with the internment serving as a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked executive action based on racial prejudices.