Supporting Goals of Certian Communities in Recognizing National Day of Rememberance

SUPPORTING GOALS OF CERTAIN COMMUNITIES IN RECOGNIZING NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE -- (House of Representatives - March 03, 2004)

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. The World War II internment of American citizens of Japanese, German and Italian ancestry for no reason other than their heritage is a disgraceful blot on the history of this Nation and on our commitment to freedom and equality. Sometimes, in times of panic and insecurity, we have forgotten what is best and most admired about our Nation and we have done things which in retrospect and with cooler heads we have come to realize were both unnecessary and unjust. This unfortunate history includes the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the Espionage Act of 1917, the Smith Act of 1940, the Japanese, German and Italian internments, the McCarthy depredations of the early Cold War years, the COINTELPRO operations of the FBI, and some of what is going on today.

We are regrettably going through another period of fear and insecurity due to the very real threat of terrorism. We must not give in to fear and we must not repeat the sin of trampling civil liberties in ways that purport to, but do not even, add to our own security. But I fear we are yet again doing just that.

There is no greater way to honor those many loyal Americans who suffered injustices during World War II than to rededicate ourselves to fighting for the principles that this history teaches, to remembering this history, to passing this resolution but to try to avoid repeating this history as I fear we are doing in some of the things that are going on in this time of insecurity today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Honda), the sponsor
of the resolution.

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Hawaii.
(Mr. CASE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Becerra).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, over 60 years ago, at a time of panic and insecurity, this country committed a great wrong against people
of Japanese, Italian and German background. Several years ago, the United States apologized for this, voted monetary compensation, and today we are passing a resolution supporting the goal of recognizing a day of national remembrance to increase public awareness of these events.

It is right and fitting that we should do this, and we should pass this resolution. I hope and I pray that as we increase public awareness of these events, we will learn from it, so that we do not repeat the same kind of actions as we have done in the past at times of insecurity and panic.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. The World War II internment of American citizens of Japanese,
German and Italian ancestry for no reason other than their heritage is a disgraceful blot on the history of this Nation and
on our commitment to freedom and equality. Sometimes, in times of panic and insecurity, we have forgotten what is
best and most admired about our Nation and we have done things which in retrospect and with cooler heads we have
come to realize were both unnecessary and unjust. This unfortunate history includes the Alien and Sedition Acts of
1798, the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the Espionage Act of 1917, the Smith Act of 1940, the Japanese, German and Italian internments, the McCarthy depredations of the early Cold War years, the COINTELPRO operations of the FBI, and some of what is going on today.

We are regrettably going through another period of fear and insecurity due to the very real threat of terrorism. We must not give in to fear and we must not repeat the sin of trampling civil liberties in ways that purport to, but do not even, add to our own security. But I fear we are yet again doing just that.

There is no greater way to honor those many loyal Americans who suffered injustices during World War II than to rededicate ourselves to fighting for the principles that this history teaches, to remembering this history, to passing this resolution but to try to avoid repeating this history as I fear we are doing in some of the things that are going on in this time of insecurity today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Honda), the sponsor
of the resolution.

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

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