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Washington, DC - Congressman David Wu today urges his colleagues to vote for legislation supporting a National Day of Remembrance to recognize the injustice perpetrated on Japanese Americans during World War II. The U.S. House passed H.Res 56, of which Congressman Wu is a cosponsor, by a vote of 404 to 0.
Below is the text of Congressman Wu's remarks:
"Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 56, a resolution recognizing the historical significance of February 19, 1942 and supporting the Japanese American, German American, and Italian American communities in recognizing a National Day of Remembrance.
"On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, under which authority approximately 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated during World War II. The last of the detainees were released in October 1946, four and a half years after the signing of the Executive Order, and over a year after the end of the war. But this dark chapter in our American history did not end there.
"Upon release from the internment camps, Japanese Americans could not return to the lives they had led before the tragic Executive Order. During the period of internment, they lost their homes, their businesses, their livelihoods.
"Thirty years passed before the Executive Order was formally rescinded in 1976. And it took the government an additional 12 years before reparations and a Presidential apology were issued in 1988.
"Mr. Speaker, it took over forty years for the government to acknowledge the magnitude of the mistake it had made in interning Japanese Americans. We must now vow to remember the unspeakable injustice perpetrated upon our fellow Americans by our American government so that it may not be repeated. I thank Mr. Honda for introducing this important resolution which reminds us not to forget the mistakes of our past.
"We support the Japanese American, German American, and Italian American communities in recognizing a National Day of Remembrance. This dark period in our history not only devastated the lives of Japanese Americans, but also restricted the freedoms of Italian Americans and German Americans during World War II.
"Mr. Speaker, we must recognize that measures such as Executive Order 9066, which was found to be shaped by "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership," violate not only the rights of those they target, but in fact, attack the basic freedoms of all Americans guaranteed by the Constitution. Let the lessons of the past teach us to be wary of the actions we as a Congress take hastily, based on fear. Let us remember."
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