Remember Internment of Americans in World War II
REMEMBER INTERNMENT OF AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II -- (Extensions of Remarks - March 01, 2006)
SPEECH OF
HON. ZOE LOFGREN
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2006
* Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War to define military areas in which "the right of any person to enter, remain in or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions" are deemed "necessary or desirable."
* By the spring of 1942, California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona were designated as military areas.
* In May of 1942, Santa Clara Valley Japanese Americans were ordered to "close their affairs promptly, and make their own arrangements for disposal of personal and real property."
* Official government fliers were posted around California, Arizona and Washington instructing families to report to various assembly centers with just the bare necessities, leaving behind their homes, their lives, and most personal belongings.
* Because permanent camps were not yet built, large community gathering places, such as the Tanforan Racetrack in San Mateo County in Northern California and the Santa Anita Racetrack in Southern California became home to Japanese internees for several months before being moved.
* San Francisco Bay Area Japanese Americans were forced to live in horse stables at the Tanforan Racetrack until a permanent camp was built for them.
* Eleven thousand Japanese Americans and aliens were evacuated from their homes and incarcerated throughout the duration of the war.
* Three thousand of those interned were Japanese Americans from Santa Clara Valley.
* By the fall of 1942, most internees were transported to camps far away from home, to internment camps in Arizona, Northern and Central California, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and even as far away as Arkansas.
* Most remained in internment camps until the end of the war--3 long years later.
* The horror for Japanese Americans did not end upon their return to Santa Clara County in 1945 at the end of the war. Upon release, approximately 7,000 Japanese Americans moved to Santa Clara Valley.
* Most had no shelter, food, money, much less a job.
* Some returned to find their homes looted and destroyed.
* The San Jose Buddhist Church offered what it could--shelter and hot meals for most families.
* In Santa Clara County, the family of Bob Peckham (later to become Federal District Court Judge Bob Peckham) took title to the property of Japanese-American neighbors and was able to preserve property and return it at the end of the internment, so people in our area in some cases were saved the loss of their homes and businesses.
* All of this happened before I was born.
* But I remember very well learning about it even before it was added to the history textbooks.
* My mother was a young woman in 1942. My dad was in the army and she was building airplanes at Douglas Aircraft for the war effort.
* She told me about driving past the Tanforan Racetrack and how ashamed and guilty she felt. There were people locked up at the race track--living in horse stables--who she knew had done nothing wrong. People who had been her neighbors had been rounded up suddenly and taken away.
* My mother told me how helpless she felt. She knew what her government was doing was wrong but she didn't know how to change it. She felt powerless but also felt guilty and ashamed because of what the United States government had done.
* She was a life long Democrat and cast her first Presidential vote for FDR ..... but she never agreed with what he did to her neighbors.
* There was no apology, no financial support, no help from the Federal Government until many years later.
* Finally, on February 19, 1976 President Gerald Ford formally rescinded Executive Order 9066.
* And, at long last, on July 21, 1980 Congress adopted legislation establishing the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to investigate the claim that the incarceration of Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens during World War II was justified by military necessity.
* On August 10, 1988 the Civil Liberties Act was signed into law, authorizing payments of $20,000 to each person that suffered from internment and established the Office of Redress to identify, locate, and pay these individuals, 82,219 were paid.
* By then my neighbors and my parents neighbors who had been unjustly incarcerated--Ed Kawazoe, Jimi Yamaichi, Ted and Raiko, and many others--received at long last an apology. Some lived long enough to receive the compensation provided for in the law.
* These efforts were celebrated in the community of Japanese Americans. But they were also celebrated in the broader community because Americans who were not incarcerated, like my mother, felt the shame and the guilt.
* And while an apology could not undo the injustice and the compensation did not fully cover the loss, it helped that our country admitted the mistake and tried to make amends.
* On March 4, 2004 H. Res. 56, introduced by Congressman Mike Honda, passed the House by a unanimous vote of 404-0. The resolution supports the goals of the Japanese, German, and Italian American communities in recognizing a National Day of Remembrance on the day FDR signed the infamous Executive Order 9066--February 19, 1942. It also seeks to increase public awareness of the events surrounding the restriction, exclusion, and internment of individuals and families during World War II.
* Today, I support Mr. Honda's resolution to recognize February 19th as the Day of Remembrance. It is the least we can do--spend one day per year reflecting on the horrors of internment, remember those who suffered, and work to find ways never to repeat that terrible page in history.
http://thomas.loc.gov/