"My entire family was put on a registry...our constitutional rights were taken away from us." This is the story of Haru Kuromiya, an 89-year-old survivor of the U.S. government's mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans in the 1940s. But, if President-elect Donald Trump gets his way, it could also be the story of so many Muslim-Americans forced to endure a tragic reprise of one of America's hugest mistakes.
Kuromiya's story is part of a new PSA with a powerful twist. The short film was directed by Aya Tanimura, stars actress Hina Khan, and was executive produced by singer Katy Perry. The L.A. Times reports that Perry gave Tanimura a blank check to fund the PSA's complicated prosthetics.
“Katy has always been a champion of the underdog, of minorities, of the people who are kind of left of center, and she’s become more politically involved in the last few election cycles,” Tanimura told the Times. Perry campaigned for Hillary Clinton and has also been an avid supporter of UNICEF; she even received the nonprofit's Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award in November (presented, fittingly, by Clinton herself).
“I think like a lot of us who are terrified of Trump’s ideals and policies, she is too," Tanimura said of Perry. "And this is one instance where she’s able to help educate someone — even one person — on the horrors of the past and what could potentially be repeated.”
The risk of history repeating itself is frighteningly real: Trump is aiming for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," according to his website, which also claims that Muslims bear "great hatred towards Americans."
Props to Perry and the rest of the film team for doing what they can to fight this xenophobic messaging — offering fellow Americans a valuable creed (in hashtag form, of course): #DontNormalizeHate.
Watch the full PSA, below.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
Kirsten Dunst Is Engaged To Her Fargo Co-Star Jesse Plemons
Exes Paula Patton & Robin Thicke Are Fighting Over Spanking & Alan Thicke's Funeral
The Same Number Of Women Have Worked Behind The Camera In Hollywood Since 1998