Washington, DC -- Congressman Neil Abercrombie yesterday issued the following statement for the Congressional Record in support of National Day of Remembrance, commemorating the World War II internment of Japanese Americans: 

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in observing the 2006 National Day of Remembrance.  This occasion commemorates the 64th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, resulting in the exclusion and internment of Japanese Americans living on the Pacific Coast. 

In all, more than 100,000 people were singled out for punitive action solely on the basis of ancestry.  Reason was overwhelmed by hysteria and bigotry.  Loyalty was confused with race. Justice was supplanted by preemptive detention.  The most basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution were ignored. 

The affected individuals and families were uprooted from their homes and communities.  They were isolated and interned under often primitive conditions.  They suffered deep and long lasting psychological wounds. And many if not most suffered irretrievable economic losses.

Just as profoundly, the internment was an attack on the American principles of equality, fairness and due process.  After World War II, it was acknowledged that the internment could not be justified on national security or any other grounds.  It was seen- rightly- as a shameful chapter in American history.  Decades later the Congress, spurred by Hawaii’s Senator Spark Matsunaga, enacted apology legislation and partial restitution for economic damages.

Isn’t it time, some might ask, to close the book on this tragic chapter in our national story?  Why do we need a National Day of Remembrance?  The answer is simple: remembrance is the surest defense against repetition. 

Today the claims of executive authority are once again on the march.  They extend to imprisonment without due process, wiretapping without warrants, and extraordinary powers in the name of national security.  The National Day of Remembrance illuminates the pedigree of those claims.  It reminds us that the strength of our Constitution is only a function of our willingness to defend it. That is our message on National Day of Remembrance, and we rededicate ourselves to its purposes.

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