REFERENCE: Vol. 132 No. 118

TITLE: ON THE SUBJECT OF JAPANESE AMERICAN REDRESS

SPEAKER: HON. ROBERT T. MATSUI OF CALIFORNIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

TEXT: Text that appears in UPPER CASE identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the House on the floor.

MR. MATSUI. MR. SPEAKER, ON BEHALF OF NORMAN Y. MINETA AND MYSELF I AM PLEASED TO SUBMIT FOR THE RECORD A SPEECH DELIVERED BEFORE THE JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE BY OUR COLLEAGUE FROM CALIFORNIA, MEL LEVINE.

THE INTERNMENT OF U.S. CITIZENS AND PERMANENT RESIDENT ALIENS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY IS A BLOT ON THE HISTORY OF OUR GREAT NATION. IN HIS SPEECH MEL LEVINE ADDRESSED THIS ISSUE AND THE BILL H.R. 442, THE LEGISLATIVE EFFORT TO REDRESS THIS INJUSTICE.

MR. SPEAKER, ALL OF THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ARE ENCOURAGED TO READ THIS SPEECH. IT SENSITIVELY DESCRIBES THE INTERNMENT, AND MAKES STRONG ARGUMENTS FOR REDRESS.

REMARKS OF CONGRESSMAN MEL LEVINE BEFORE THE JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE, LOS ANGELES, CA, AUGUST 24, 1986

Good afternoon, I am very pleased to be with you today and to have the opportunity to speak with you. I am honored to have been invited to speak with you by a marvelous public servant, City Councilman George Nakano of Torrance. And I am honored to serve in Congress with two of your Members who are known to be two of the finest Congressmen not just from California but from the entire Nation, Bob Matsui and Norm Mineta.

Having grown up in California, I have long been familiar with the work of the Japanese American Citizens League, and with your many contributions in the areas of education and civil and human rights. I have a great deal of respect for the work of the JACL, so I am especially happy to be here.

As I stand here today, I cannot imagine a United States without Japanese Americans, any more than I can amagine a United States without Italian Americans, Polish Americans, or -- well, you fill in the name. Ours is a diverse culture. This very diversity lends to its stunning complexity, and is part and parcel of the richness and uniqueness of our country. And no matter what our diverse heritages, we all share the same common bond: we are all Americans.

Japanese Americans have made contributions to virtually every profession in every region of the United States. Their contributions to business, architecture, science, medicine, education -- are well-documented.

I would like to think things have always been well for Americans of Japanese ancestry. But such is not the case. In truth, there is a dark blot upon this country with respect to them. That dark blot is the internment of 120,000 citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

The decision to intern Japanese Americans followed a long and ugly history of west coast anti-Japanese agitation and legislation. From 1907 through 1948 anti-Japanese bills were introduced in every session of the California Legislature. In 1907 an agreement between the United States and Japan halted immigration of male laborers. In 1913 a California law banned purchase of land by aliens "ineligible for citizenship." As Asians, the Japanese were barred from U.S. citizenship. This was perhaps the single most important factor affecting the issei (pronounced E-say) -- first generation Japanese immigrants -- because it kept them out of the American political process and left them virtually defenseless against discriminatory legislation.

In 1920 aliens were prevented from leasing land. In 1924 a new U.S. immigration law completely slammed the door on Japanese immigration.

It was in that context that the Japanese American Citizens League was founded in 1929.

The anti-Japanese hostility stemmed in part from feared economic competition, and in part from outright racism. It was a time of what was so disparagingly called the "yellow peril" -- fear of an unknown Asian culture.

The Japanese, small in number and with no political voice, became a convenient target for political demagogues.

In the first months of World War II, Japanese armies in the Pacific won a frightening string of victories against the United States. In January and February 1942, the military position of the United States in the Pacific was perilous. There was fear the Japanese would attack the west coast.

As one individual in the Government at the time recently explained, "frightened people do frightening things." And it was within that context that, on February 19, 1942, 10 weeks after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This order gave to the Secretary of War and the military commanders the power to exclude any and all persons, citizens and aliens, from designated areas in order to provide security against sabotage, espionage and fifth column activities.

President Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, "a day that will live in infamy." One historian has written that February 19, 1942 was a day that "should live in infamy," for shortly thereafter all American citizens of Japanese descent were prohibited from living, working or traveling on the west coast of the United States. The same prohibition applied to the generation of Japanese immigrants who, pursuant to Federal law and despite long residence in the United States, were not permitted to become American citizens.

So began one of the most shameful chapters in the history of the United States.

With no charges filed, with no hearings or trials, and with little notice, Japanese American citizens and aliens were given numbers and herded to "assembly centers." Allowed to bring only what they could carry, they were transported for the duration of World War II to 10 "relocation centers" -- barely habitable camps of tar-paper shacks, surrounded by barbed wire fences.

The justification given for this action was military necessity. But the historical causes which shaped the decision to intern Japanese Americans were racism, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership. In fact, not a single documented act of espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity was committed by an American citizen of Japanese ancestry or by a resident Japanese alien on the west coast.

The internment experience was, to say the least, a traumatic one. Those interned suffered many losses: tremendous financial and personal losses -- lost friends, lost education, lost opportunity, lost standing in their communities -- and loss of nearly three precious years of their lives.

There were bitter ironies in the wake of Executive Order 9066. In early 1942 a newspaper ran a photograph of a little Japanese boy on a train headed for an internment camp. He was leaning out the window waving an American flag.

And in its attempt to "Americanize" the already American children in the camps, they had to salute the flag and sing "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty." In this context these words ring hollow and exceedingly cruel.

Fourth of July celebrations were bravely held behind barbed wire in the camps, and in the shadow of sentry towers.

Departure from the camps was permitted only after a loyalty review. Many were allowed to leave to go to college outside the west coast or to private employment, or to join the Army. Some 33,000 Japanese Americans served during the war, some drafted right out of the camps. Parents in tar-paper shacks displayed starred banners indicating that their sons were American soldiers.

The irony of Japanese Americans fighting for a nation that confined their people is sharpened by the valor they displayed on the battlefield. For its size and length of service, no other American unit was more decorated than the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd has been called the most highly decorated unit in the history of American fighting forces. Made up primarily of Japanese Americans, the unit earned more than 18,000 individual citations for bravery, including a medal of honor, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, 560 Silver Stars, and no fewer than 9,486 Purple Hearts.

But after serving, one member of the 442nd returned home to California to find, as he said, "every store on Main Street had a 'No Japs Wanted' sign out front."

Hawaii's Senator Daniel Inouye, who lost an arm in combat and earned the Distinguished Service Cross, has said, "We were fighting two wars -- one against the Axis overseas and another against racism at home."

And one detainee wrote: "The thoroughly American" internees "realized that Americanism had somehow skipped the Japanese Americans."

It was not until December 1944 that Japanese Americans were freed to return to their homes on the west coast. But many had lost everything. They were the victims of an indignity of tremendous proportions, and they lived with a tremendous stigma.

Although some remedial measures were implemented to redress the war's injustices, it was not until 1980 that Congress began in earnest the process of national reconciliation with the creation of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. The Commission heard the testimony of some 750 witnesses, many speaking about their painful experience for the first time. The Commission's lengthy and detailed report is an excellent historical study and a powerful indictment of a shameful wartime policy.

The Commission recommended appropriate remedies for the injustices of the internment. Its recommendations are the basis of a bill -- H.R 442 -- the "Civil Liberties Act of 1985" -- now pending in Congress with 140 consponsors, of which I am one. This number -- 442 -- honors the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

There are 12 findings in this important legislation, but I want to mention just five.

One, the evacuation, relocation and internment of individuals of Japanese ancestry was carried out without any documented acts of espionage and sabotage, or other acts of disloyalty by any citizen or permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry on the west coast.

Two, there was no military or security reason for the evacuation, relocation or internment.

Three, the evacuation, relocation and internment of individuals of Japanese ancestry were caused by racial prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.

Four, the excluded individuals suffered enormous damages and losses, both material and intangible, all of which resulted in significant human suffering for which full and appropriate compensation has not been made.

Five, the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of those individuals interned were fundamentally violated by the evacuation and internment.

H.R. 442 seeks to redress the internment in several ways. First, the bill contains a provision which I would like to quote in total. It is titled "Recognition of Injustice and an Apology on Behalf of the Nation." It reads, "The Congress recognizes that a grave injustice was done to both citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry by the evacuation, relocation, and internment of civilians during World War II. On behalf of the Nation, the Congress apologizes."

The bill also directs the United States Attorney General to review all cases in which U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry were convicted of violations of laws of the United States, and to recommend to the President for pardon consideration those convictions which the Attorney General deems appropriate. The President is requested to offer pardons to those individuals recommended by the Attorney General.

The bill directs executive agencies, to which Japanese Americans may apply, to review with liberality applications for the restitution of positions, status or entitlements lost because of acts or events during the internment period.

The bill establishes a $1.5 billion "civil liberties public education fund." This fund would be used in part to sponsor research and public educational activities so that events surrounding the evacuation, relocation and internment of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry will be remembered and understood.

Lastly, the bill requires the Attorney General to indentify and locate individuals excluded from their places of residence pursuant to Executive Order 9066 and to provide a one-time per capita compensatory payment of $20,000 to each of these surviving 60,000 people.

Hearings were held in Congress on this bill in both 1984 and this year. H.R. 442 is pending in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Law and Governmental Relations, where members are hopeful that consideration can be completed this session.

There is no question in my mind about the appropriateness of monetary compensation to Americans of Japanese ancestry. During my days in the State legislature I coauthored a bill, which became law in 1982, to permit those Japanese Americans in the civil service, who were dismissed or who resigned during the war because of their Japanese ethnicity, to claim $5,000 as reparation.

The United States Congress supported the policy of removal and detention, and enacted a Federal statute which made criminal the violation of orders issued pursuant to Executive Order 9066. The Government of the United States was responsibile for the catastrophic damages, and the Government therefore has a legal and moral responsibility to compensate the internees for those losses.

Desirable and appropriate as is the intent of H.R. 442, Americans of Japanese ancestry can and will never be adequately redressed for their loss and suffering. But this bill is a very important symbolic expression of the recognized responsibility of the United States Government in this shameful chapter in the history of our country.

Japanese Americans have had other successes in rectifying the wrongs against them. In February of this year a Federal judge overturned the conviction of Mr. Gordon Hirabayashi, who refused to be evacuated to wartime internment camp in 1942, was found guilty, and had fought the conviction ever since.

In June the Washington, D.C. U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the reinstatement of a lawsuit brought on behalf of the 120,000 interned Japanese Americans. The decision upheld a January decision that overruled a 1981 ruling that a six-year statute of limitation on suits against the Government barred the lawsuit.

Still, Asian Americans of all backgrounds have felt the brunt of racism over the years, and it has been reported that there has been a rise in both racial tension and violence since the early 1980s. The current discrimination is motivated in part by fears among some Americans that Asians are "taking over" businesses and jobs. The inability of certain U.S. industries to compete effectively against Asian -- particularly Japanese -- imports has been a factor.

The most gruesome example of this is the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. Two former automobile workers thought Mr. Chin was Japanese, and they blamed Japan for unemployment in the American auto industry. Mr. Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat the night before his wedding.

Incidents of anti-Asian behavior reportedly increased 40 percent from 1983 to 1984 in the Los Angeles area, the home of the U.S.' largest group of Asians.

As you can see, anti-Asian sentiment continues to exist in this country. This latent tendency rears its ugly head in times of economic stress, providing an excuse to abandon moral and legal principles.

Every one of us has a responsibility to do all we can to ensure that what happened to Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II never again happens to them or to any other group. Those of us who so dearly cherish the best that America stands for, and who so deeply revere the principles and rights enumerated in our constitution, must be ever-vigilant to make sure our democratic system and due process is not stampeded again.

The internment experience was a fundamental personal and social tragedy, not only for Americans of Japanese ancestry, but for all of us, for when even one person's rights are tread upon, the rights of all of us are tread upon, and society as a whole is dimished.

I might add that, as a Jewish American, I believe I have a somewhat heightened sensitivity to the curse of racial or religious discrimination. And I believe the historical frame of reference in which I was raised has heightened my interest in fighting against discrimination wherever it might rear its ugly head.

To help ensure that the events of World War II are never repeated, I urge you to be politically involved, for with that involvement comes power. The first Asian American is now serving on the Los Angeles City Council. Others serve in other cities and towns across this country, but not enough. Don't forget that being excluded from the American political process left Americans of Japanese ancestry virtually defenseless against the horrible discriminatory actions of World War II.

Lastly, be vigilant in protecting your rights, because when you do, you help protect the rights of us all and of all citizens of our great Nation.

Thank you.