To make the Federal employees health benefits program available to individuals age 55 to 65 who would not otherwise have health insurance, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of my Special Order, recognizing Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on the significance of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The push for designating an APA Heritage Month started 26 years ago by visionary APA community leaders and also was led from this House by retired Congressman Robert Horton of New York and the current Secretary of Transportation, Norman Y. Mineta.

This year's Heritage Month theme, a Salute to Liberty, is an especially timely theme as our Nation is faced with conflict and tension. We must remember that in the fight to protect our national security, we must also preserve our civil liberties and individual rights. During this month, it is also imperative that we utilize this opportunity to reflect upon and understand our past so we can successfully build for our future. This is a moment of teaching and learning. There have been many histories of Asian Pacific Americans in this country, Mr. Speaker, their origins, their barriers, the barriers that they have overcome in the pursuit to seek the American Dream in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment and sort of share with the community the history of the bill that was passed in 1992, eventually, to recognize the month of May as an official

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

In 1977, Representative Frank Horton, a Representative from New York, and Norman Y. Mineta, from California, introduced the Asian Pacific Heritage Week, House Resolution 540, in the House of Representatives, which called upon the President to proclaim the first 10 days of May as Pacific Asian Heritage Week. The joint resolution did not contain an annual designation, so in 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the joint resolution put forward by both Representatives Horton and Mineta.

Then, in 1990, Asian American leaders around the country gathered at the White House to witness the signing of a proclamation by President George Bush declaring May to be Asian Pacific Heritage Month. So we went from a week to a month. In 1992, President Bush signed legislation into law designating May of each year as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Mr. Speaker, it is apropos since this is the month of May we do take some time to recognize those who were important in designating Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

First, why is it important? As a schoolteacher, if we do not teach our history and understand the members of our community's contributions to this country, our children, be they Asian Americans or not, will be less educated and less informed and less appreciative of not only their culture but the cultures of other people.

The growth of the Asian Pacific population from 1980 to 1990 doubled from 3.7 million to approximately 7.3 million. This increase is remarkable when compared to the total increase in the U.S. population of 9.8 percent during that same period.

Then the growth continued to rise another 43 percent from 1990 to 1999. Currently, APAs comprise 4.5 percent of the U.S. population; and by 2050 APAs are expected to comprise 9 percent of the U.S. population. However, in the State of California, the APA population already comprise 11 percent of the general population and grew 34 percent in the past decade, from 2.8 to 3.8 million. This growth, although largely attributed to immigration patterns, is also indicative of more defined data collection methods which has always been a problem in our communities. So the last census it was critical that the census taken was accurate and was as precise as possible.

Data is a cross-cutting issue. Lack of data impacts our understanding of the health problems in our communities, as well as the problems in access and quality. Adequate data collection continues to be a challenge for the APA community.

Although we are often mistaken to be a homogeneous group and sometimes considered perpetual foreigners, APAs in this country encompasses 49 ethnicities speaking over 100 languages and dialects. Aggregating such a large and diverse group makes it difficult to understand the unique problems faced by the individual ethnicities it encompasses.

So when we aggregate Asian Americans as a population, when we look at programs and policies in this country, it is critical that we disaggregate the information so that we are able to be more precise in our policies and programs that we want to target for our communities.

Let me just share a little bit of historical time line. Historically, in 1763 the very first settlement that we know of were some escaped prisoners aboard the Spanish galleons, and they were Filipinos jumping ship in New Orleans. They fled into the bayous of Louisiana, and they established a community called Saint Malo, the first APA settlement in the United States, fleeing the Spanish galleons and seeking freedom in this country.

In 1882, this country saw fit to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Exclusion Act ends most immigration from China until 1943 and denied citizenship to those already present, many of whom were drawn by the gold rush and the Central Pacific Railroad.

As a sideline, we have found out through our research that there have been many Chinese Americans who fought in the Civil War. Upon their petition to become citizens after serving in the military, they were denied citizenship because of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

In 1868, the Japanese settled in California, first in a community called Alameda in the San Francisco Bay area and secondly in El Dorado County near Sacramento. That colony was name Wahamatsu Colony.

An interesting story of the Wahamatsu Colony, the first colony in this country, was that they first came as refugees from Japan led by a gentleman who was a gunrunner in Japan, Mr. Schell. He had a choice of either facing death or being deported. So he left with his contingent of folks from Japan and established this colony. This colony did not last very long, but it is important to note that the last surviving members of the first colony in the State of California are not Japanese Americans but families of African Americans and Chinese.

So it shows that ethnic groups in this country, when they come to this country, they may be disallowed from intermarrying with the mainstream white groups of this country, but they found ways to raise families and find their way through this country until such time that laws were passed to allow people to earn their citizenship in this country.

In 1912 at the Stockholm Olympics, swimmer Duke Kahinomoku became the first APA to win a Gold Medal. He was later credited with introducing the sport, a sport that is endearing to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), the sport of surfing in the United States.

In 1913, the Alien Land Act was passed, and this was specifically in California. The Alien Land Act forced immigrants, primarily Japanese and other APAs, from owning or leasing land; and similar laws were passed in other States throughout the Nation. Subsequently it was rescinded later on in the 1950s.

In 1942, the Japanese American internment occurred. This was following the United States' declaration of war against Japan when Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the forced relocation and detention of 120,000 Japanese Americans, as well as over 2,000 Japanese Latin Americans. And also in this country it is not well-known that over 7,000 Italian Americans were affected personally, their families, and over 30,000 German Americans were affected.

In 1943, the Japanese American battalion, the 442nd, which was comprised of some 12,000 Japanese Americans, many of them from internment camps, responded to the War Department's call for volunteers for an all-Japanese combat unit. It was not unusual at that time that we had segregated combat units. We had combat units of Indians; we had combat units of blacks and African Americans. At that time around 32,000 were inducted to form the 442 regimental combat team, and we had Members of this House who served in the Regimental Combat 442, the past Congressman Sparky Matsunaga and the current Senator from Hawaii, Mr. Inouye.

This combat team became legendary for its success, and it is probably the most decorated military men in the United States history. Their average Purple Heart that this combat unit had inflicted upon them, they had earned almost three Purple Hearts per person, meaning they had to be injured. Each member had to be injured at least three times, so close to 9,000 Purple Hearts were granted recognizing their injuries in the effort to fight the war in Europe.

In 1946, the first Chinese American, Wing F. Ong of Arizona, becomes the first APA to be elected to State office. Asian Americans, we are still looking at firsts. Some day we hope that we will go beyond the first and become a rule rather than an exception.

In 1956, after the first congressman, an Indian American businessman Dalip Singh Saund of Westmoreland, California, became the very first Asian Pacific American elected to Congress, he, however, wanted to become a citizen and could not become a citizen prior to 1952 because there was still a law on the books that disallowed Asian to become citizens. When that law was rescinded, he was able to participate in the halls of Congress.

In 1964, the first congresswoman, Patsy Takemoto Mink is the first woman of color and the first Asian Pacific congresswoman to represent Hawaii in the halls of Congress. We know

that we lost her just recently, and it was a terrible loss to not only Asian Americans but Americans throughout this country and to all those who believe that those who have never forgotten their roots and their past come to Congress making sure that the idea that equality and opportunities for all Americans, regardless of their background, must be met and must be respected.

In 1965, a labor activist named Philip Vera Cruz organizes a successful strike of fellow Filipino grape pickers in Coachella, California. This gentleman began the movement that leads to the formation of the United Farm Workers of America where eventually Cesar Chevaz became the head leader and recognized for his work and his philosophy of peace and nonviolent activism.

In 1968, there was an ethnic studies strike. Students of color from San Francisco State University and UC Berkley organize a Third World strike. Their efforts led to the creation of ethnic studies departments at both campuses and eventually across this country.

I have to say that because of the work of folks in ethnic studies, which was a movement that did not have much support among the scholastic circles until recently, that we found all this information that would lead to children, present and in the future, being able to understand that Asian Americans are not recent immigrants and Asian Americans have contributed to the development of this country.

Further, the most valuable player in 1969 was a Filipino American. He played for the Los Angeles Rams as a quarterback, and his name was Roman Gabriel. He was recognized as the league's Most Valuable Player.

The first governor in 1974 was a Japanese governor named George Ariyoshi; and he was elected governor of Hawaii, the first APA governor in the United States.

And in 1981, a Chinese American architecture student, Maya Lin, her design was chosen for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in a national competition. She becomes one of the most widely recognized architects in the United States, and her work can be seen here in Washington, D.C., at the Vietnam Memorial.

In 1982, a young man, Vincent Chin, who was celebrating the event of his marriage, was murdered. He was murdered in Detroit, Michigan. Two white auto workers mistook Chin for Japanese and blamed him for the auto industry's woes and the downturn in the economy. He was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. The courts were lenient on the killers, and none of them served a day in jail. This incident became a rallying point for the national APA community. His mom went across this country seeking justice and eventually had some justice through the civil rights law.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, if I may continue my sharing of information on the chronological order. After the American internment, in 1990 we had a gentleman by the name of Chang-Lin Tien who became the first APA to head a major university in the United States when he was appointed chancellor of the University of Berkeley. He distinguished himself not only because he led the campus as a chancellor but he also became known by the students on that campus, which is quite rare. He also allowed the students to feel that they were part of a community. He was a great proponent of affirmative action. He was a great proponent of making sure that he modeled what it is that he believed by his own personal life. He also was probably the most prodigious and prolific fund-raiser that university system has ever seen. He just passed away a year ago from brain cancer. We shall miss him dearly; but his work and his model, his expectation continues to live in that system and in the State of California.

In 1992, Mr. Speaker, the Los Angeles uprisings took place. The L.A. uprisings followed the verdict in the Rodney King trial. Property loss was valued at $1 billion with Korean American businesses bearing half the damage. Relations between Korean Americans and African Americans became a focal point of community activism. Today when visiting Los Angeles, one will find that the two communities are working hand in hand to make sure that they learn from each other and can grow with each other and that neither one is targeted in times of tension.

In 1996 there was a victory for Asian immigrant women workers. After a 3\1/2\ year national campaign, APA immigrant women and Asian immigrant women advocates reached a historic agreement with clothing manufacturer Jessica McClintock to protect garment laborers.

Mr. Speaker, in 1996 something happened in the State of Washington. Not only can Hawaii boast of an Asian American Governor but also the State of Washington elected its first Asian American Governor, Gary Locke from the State of Washington. He enjoys quite a bit of leadership. Today he is the chair of the Governors association. In 1996, AIDS research reached a point of distinction. A gentleman by the name of David Ho was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year for his work in AIDS research. He developed the protease inhibitor cocktail treatment which adds years to the lives of many AIDS patients. David Ho.

In 1997, there was a woman in space. She was an Asian Pacific American. Astronaut Kalpana Chawla became the first Indo-American and APA woman in space. She died in the breakup of the Columbia Space Shuttle returning to Earth this year, in February 2003.

The first APA man in the Cabinet was selected by President Bill Clinton when he appointed former Congressman Norman Mineta Secretary of Commerce. He is the first APA member of the Presidential Cabinet. Earlier in his career, Mineta was the first APA mayor of a major metropolitan city, San Jose. Then in the next administration under George Bush, George Bush saw fit to ask Norm Mineta to serve as Secretary of Transportation. We are enjoying his leadership currently as Secretary of Transportation.

In 2002, an APA woman legislator by the name of Wilma Chan of Alameda, California, is a State legislator but she rose to the Democratic majority leader of the California State Assembly. There are other firsts, Mr. Speaker. The first Hmong attorney. The Hmongs came from Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War. The Hmongs were scattered throughout this country but eventually assembled both in Fresno, California, and in Minnesota. Mee Moua was a young woman who was an attorney and became the first woman and first Hmong attorney and first member of the Hmong community to be elected to the Minnesota State Senate. Shortly after that, Cy Thao became the first Hmong assemblyman in the State of Minnesota. There is also in the State of Minnesota the first Indo-American, Satveer Chaudhary. He hails from Minnesota, also.

There was the first APA woman in the Cabinet. President George W. Bush appointed Elaine Chao to be Secretary of Labor. She is the very first APA woman to hold a Presidential Cabinet post.

Mr. Speaker, in this country there are many firsts. We have John Liu who is the very first Asian American to sit on the City of New York's city council representing the 20th district.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee). And I yield, Mr. Speaker, to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for her words and her support not only here in the halls of Congress but also back home in Houston and Texas in general. Her work and the work of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) really just show that there is power in collaboration and being able to work together not only as individuals but as a coalition for the betterment of every American in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to touch a little bit on the internment story of the Japanese Americans in this country. It is a story that needs to be told over and over again because it is not a Japanese American history lesson. It is not a Japanese American experience only. It is not a Japanese American lesson, but it is really rooted deeply in what I would consider an American lesson.

Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 61st anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942; and it is the 15th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

In 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 pursuant to which 120,000 Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. Many of these families lost their property and possessions during the several years they were jailed behind barbed wire.

On February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford formally rescinded Executive Order 9066; and July 21, 1980, became the beginning of reconciling our past to the present. Congress adopted legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter on July 31, 1980, establishing the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate the claim that the incarceration of Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens during World War II was not justified by military necessity. The outcome of that commission, Mr. Speaker, the commission had held 20 days of hearings and listened to testimony of over 720 witnesses, and published its findings in a report entitled ``Personal Justice Denied.'' The principal finding in 1982 was that the promulgation of Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity and that the decision which followed from it, detention, ending detention and ending exclusion, were not driven by analysis of military conditions, but rather the causes that shaped these decisions were race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.

With a strong bipartisan vote, Congress passed H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act, which states in part: ``For these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry, the Congress apologizes on behalf of the Nation.'' President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act into law on August 10, 1988, at which time he proclaimed: ``This is a great day for America.''

In 1998, as a member of the California State Assembly, I authored the State version of the Civil Liberties Act, understanding that the work was still not done once the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 had expired.

I mention these dates and this timing, Mr. Speaker, because today it is even more important, more important than ever, to speak up against unjust policies. It is also more important than ever to educate Americans of the Japanese American experience during World War II, as well as the experience of other groups like Japanese Latin Americans who were expatriated from their country at the request of our government; and then while they were on the ships on their way to the United States to be interned in Crystal City, Texas, they were stripped of all their papers and became people without a country. And certain German and Italian Americans in this country were also mistreated, many of whom were forced in the middle of the night to leave their homes and pledge allegiance to the Flag in the middle of the night in order to show that to their neighbors, who forced them out, to prove that they were loyal and patriotic Americans during that time.

It is also important to learn the important lessons from our own history in the resolution I introduced, H.R. 56, the Day of Remembrance resolution, which is still in the Committee on the Judiciary. Teaching the lessons of those dark days is more important today than it ever was. By remembering, Executive Order 9066 that was signed on February 19, 1942, does not become an anniversary just on February 19 but is an anniversary that must be remembered and lived and understood every day of the year, every year for the future of this country, because the lessons that were learned were lessons that were principally rooted in the Constitution of this country, the Constitution which was a contract between our government and the people who are here in this country, a contract that is signed on paper called the Declaration of Independence, a contract that is immutable and cannot be

changed and should not be changed, a contract that promises everyone who is in this country due process and the protection of their civil liberties. It is a contract that has been protected. It is a contract that has been fought for and a contract which members of this country who served in the military have shed their blood overseas for, who left their limbs in the islands of the Pacific and on the European continent.

These Americans must be remembered as part of the lessons that we learned from the Japanese American experience that the Constitution is a contract worth protecting and dying for. We must remember that this Constitution was written back in 1776, but yet it is an evolving, growing Constitution that over time has included not only white men with properties but those who used to be slaves; those immigrants whose laws were passed against them which eventually were rescinded became citizens of this country; those immigrants who came just recently after the Vietnam War, and even today people are still seeking to find refuge in this country even at times when we seem to appear to be inhospitable to the immigrants.

Mr. Speaker, the lessons learned during the internment when we thought that we were protecting Japanese Americans for their own safety was actually a myth because if it were true, then as my father used to tell me, he wondered why if we were here for our protection, why would the barbed wires be around us, the machines pointing in on us. And my father used to still tell me, though, that, as I grew up, to be 110 percent American; that we must also remember that the contributions that have been invested in this country of our parents and grandparents are well worth it, that we must also learn that even though this country is faced with challenges since 9-11 that in spite of the war on terrorism that we still have to remember the constitutional principles by which we live.

When 9-11 occurred, the ugly head of racial prejudice appeared again as it did in 1942. Hysteria started to take over some hearts in this country, and as a result people like Balbir Singh Sodhi, an immigrant and a Sikh American from Fremont, California, moved to Mesa, Arizona to start a business there and because he looked like the enemy to the perpetrator, he was murdered and shot there in his store. And then coincidentally another year later, his brother Sukhpal Singh Sodhi was a taxi driver in San Francisco who was shot and murdered in San Francisco merely because he appeared to be a Middle Easterner and those who murdered him thought that they were vindicated because they played upon and acted upon their prejudice and their hysteria and their hatred.

It did not become a wave of murders and hangings here in this country, for I believe that, because of the history that we have been able to share, that many of us checked our fears and checked our emotions and made sure that we did not respond or succumb to our base fears.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that Members of this Congress also participated in making sure that the people of our country remembered and learned from the history of the internment, that racial profiling is unacceptable, and although we are in the throes of fear and the issues of national security that we must exercise our common sense, our good sense, and exercise our understanding of the principles of the Constitution.

We know that after 9/11 and after certain acts were passed, such as the PATRIOT Act, that we must seek the critical balance between civil liberties and private liberties with national security; and the Constitution continues to be tested as we move along, looking towards a possible second PATRIOT Act.

Mr. Speaker, it is my prayer, my hope, that Members of this body remember that Asian Americans were pioneers establishing this country. The Asian Americans were laborers building this country. The Asian Americans are doctors, lawyers, teachers and politicians, providing for the health and welfare of this Nation; and we, like every other American, are red-blooded Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to close with a couple of comments that became a lesson for me personally as I have been here my third year and my experience and seeing the works of the halls of Congress here in Washington, D.C.

I believe that the very basic lesson I have learned is not only from the experience that my community has had in 1942, the kinds of lessons we learned since then and the kinds of teachings that we have learned, but I also started to understand that the last century was a century of wars, a century of conflict, a century of trauma, and that the promise that we have in this new century should be the century of reconciliation and peace.

Now that the Cold War is gone, we have a challenge of facing conflicts in other ways. A wise man once said to me that peace, Mike, is not an absence of conflict, but a way, a manner, in which you can deal with conflict.

So, in closing, the primary lesson I have learned these past few years, Mr. Speaker, is that our Constitution is never tested in times of tranquility, but our Constitution is sorely tested in times of trauma, terror and tragedy, and that the very fiber of the American character and this country should be embodied and should be learned from the very words and the principles and the rights embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to utilize this time to share some of the information that we have had, share some of the information with the general public, and hopefully the records would reflect that Asian Americans in this country came with a dream, they worked hard and participated, they faced barriers and overcame them, and that can only happen over time in a country and a democracy like ours, where evolution and evolving sentiments and policies in this country only lead us forward, that we learn from our mistakes, and that only makes us stronger and better Americans and a greater America.

Before I get started, let me just compliment the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his patience in being here this evening. I appreciate your presence, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss House Resolution 56, a resolution I introduced earlier this month. This is a resolution supporting the goals of the Japanese American community and recognizing a national day of remembrance to increase the public awareness of the events surrounding the restriction, exclusion, and the internments of individuals and families during World War II.

Let us be clear about this. In 1942, more than 120,000 people were rounded up in this country, primarily from the west coast, and incarcerated. Families were torn apart. Hardworking people had to sell their businesses for pennies on the dollar. Everything these people worked so hard for evaporated overnight. I spent part of my childhood in a camp in southeast Colorado, an internment camp called Amache. House Resolution 56 also recognizes that some in the German and the Italian communities experienced deprivation during this period as well.

This resolution has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and has currently over 60 cosponsors. This year marks the 61st anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's signing of executive order 9066 on February 19, 1942; and it is the 15th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 signed by President Reagan.

The day of remembrance is as important now as it has ever been. We are again living in perilous times. Our country is at war against terrorism. We may soon be at war with Iraq. The history of World War II demonstrated that our Constitution is tested in times of trauma, tension, and turmoil. In 1942, our political leaders failed. Therefore, today we must work to educate the public about the internment of Americans today in order to prevent similar injustices to be forced upon other Americans. Our civil liberties have not been in as much risk since World War II, and this time we as political leaders cannot fail.

Many might be aware of the comments made by one of our colleagues earlier this month on a live radio call-in show. Our colleague said that he agreed that President Roosevelt's decision to sign executive order 9066 was appropriate. He said, with the information the President had at the time, he made the best decision he could. He also stated that the incarceration of Japanese Americans was for their own safety. In addition, statements were further made that some Japanese Americans during World War II were probably intent on doing us harm just as some Arab Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us today. Such statements are inaccurate and simply wrong. As my father always said to me when I was a child, if we were put in camps for our own protection, then why were we the ones behind barbed wires and why were the machine guns pointed inwards toward us?

Furthermore, such statements from a government official are disturbing and dangerous, as they appear to endorse a policy of racial and ethnic profiling that has long been discredited. Saying that the internment of Japanese Americans was appropriate is simply unacceptable and factually inseparable.

One of the most concise rebuttals that I have read to the notion that Japanese Americans were placed in camps because they either posed a threat to national security or for their own safety comes from a law professor, Eric Muller, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in a letter dated February 7, 2003. And I would like to, Mr. Speaker, submit this letter into the record at this point without reading its full content. However, most importantly though, we must remember that the Commission on Wartime Relocation found that it was not a military necessity that the Japanese American community be rounded up from the west coast, but it was rather based upon race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure, and I will repeat, a failure of political leadership. This was probably the largest single act of racial and ethnic profiling conducted by our government in modern times.

True to the democratic process, however, our Nation has been able to look back and admit errors from its past. I can think of no greater evidence to show why the United States, with all its flaws, still is looked to worldwide as the Nation with the strongest and fairest form of government. By admitting that the government did wrong in its treatment of its citizens and legal residents who were aliens during World War II, Congress and the President reaffirmed our Nation's commitment to the principles founded in the Constitution. However, we must always be vigilant in the protection of our civil liberties, and in this time of tension as we wage a war against terrorism, we must again reaffirm our commitment to the principles in the Constitution. While national security is always a paramount concern for those of us making the laws as well as executing and interpreting the laws, we see that there are those in government who continue to pursue policies once again that target our civil liberties.

I find it disturbing that none of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have come out against the statements of this gentleman from North Carolina. But now more than ever, we must strive to balance our cherished civil liberties with the need to protect our homeland. Finding this balance is the enduring lesson that the Day of Remembrance resolution teaches and the lesson that cannot be lost on our Nation's policy makers and our citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case) who represents probably a good portion of the population not only in the mainland, the U.S., but also in Hawaii.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case) for his words and the experiences that

he has shared with us because I think that at times the lesson is sometimes missed, that Members from Hawaii who are of Japanese ancestry volunteered for the service with the 101st battalion and joining forces with the 442 here in the mainland.

One of the things that they learned, the Japanese Americans from Hawaii, was that when they became part of the 442 with the mainland Japanese Americans, they often wondered why they were different from the Japanese Americans from Hawaii, because they grew up on a pretty predominant and highly populated island with a lot of Japanese Americans, whereas the Americans of Japanese descent on the mainland were a little different. Their attitude and view of life was different.

It was not until some of the Members from Hawaii visited the camps, along with their colleagues whose parents were incarcerated, that they truly understood the unfairness and injustice of executive order 9066.

So we say we did not know, and so it is that House Resolution 56 is to educate and to further educate our communities in this country and also other members of this globe.

Mr. Speaker, if I may ask the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) if he would mind sharing some of his thoughts.

(Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I thank the gentleman from Washington, especially for his leadership and having set aside Bainbridge Island as an educational activity and also in memory and commemorating the folks who were interned from that community.

Also I think it is appropriate to mention that there have been many stories that come to light when we talk about the day of remembrance, one of which is the story of a young man by the name of Ralph Laso from East L.A. whose friends were Japanese Americans, and when they were being incarcerated he argued this is not right; they are not enemies. He himself decided to join a family and to be incarcerated himself along with the family.

But there are many other stories that can be told if we move forward with the resolution on the Day of Remembrance.

I would like to ask the gentlewoman from the gem of the Pacific, the great territory of the Island of Guam (Ms. Bordallo), to share her thoughts.

I thank the gentlewoman. The gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo) continues the great legacy of Guam, of social justice and constitutional protection.

Mr. Speaker, if I may yield to a colleague of mine from Santa Clara County, a very personable person, someone who always does not mind speaking up when things need to be addressed, a long time friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from Santa Clara County, California (Ms. Lofgren).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Santa Clara County for especially sharing the experience of her interactions with her mom and the way her mom felt when the Japanese were taken away, and then the sense that this country can make amends for the wrongs that have occurred. The signing and the final recognition of wrongdoing by this government through the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, signed by President Reagan when he said, upon signing he said, ``This is a great day for America.'' And when President Ford rescinded 9066, he indicated, as the gentlewoman from Santa Clara said, that it was an ordinance that should have never been there.

The whole point of the Day of Remembrance resolution is about learning, is about being persistent about the lessons that we have learned from the Japanese American experience that is really an American lesson on the Constitution and is also a lesson of the American character, where, upon reconciliation, there is a healing. There is a healing among not only those who were incarcerated, but also healing among those who were affected but maybe not necessarily incarcerated. So victims are both those who were directly victimized and those who were indirectly victimized by a bad action of our government.

Also, the further learning, when we talk about the Day of Remembrance, is that other communities get to reflect upon their own experience at that time and project into the future whether this kind of thing should happen again.

For example, a few years ago when we did this in the State of California, there was also a movement and discussion among the Italian communities

and there was a reawakening of the experiences that they experienced in World War II when Executive Order 9066 was applied, was applied to Italian Americans and German Americans. And upon reflection, they found out that they too were subjected to embarrassment, to ridicule. One of the stories that came out, because of the order by General DeWitt that no persons who are aliens in the United States may live west of highway 1, which is along the coast, forced families to separate themselves, Italian American families who were engaged in the fishing industry whose parents and grandparents had to live in tents across the road while the children lived in the homes. It was things like this they started to remember and started to chronicle among themselves and to teach their children that these kinds of actions by government is not acceptable. Upon the receipt of the apology, we found that there was healing and there was teaching going on among, not only among themselves, but among the greater population of this country.

As a teacher, I want to reemphasize the necessity for this resolution, that it continues to teach us the old maxim that those of us who do not learn from the mistakes of our past are doomed to repeat them.

So in today's current light, I just want to personally reemphasize that national security is my highest priority, is our highest priority, and I support efforts to fight our war against terrorism. But we also understand that in doing so, we must not have a failure among our political leadership, we must not fall back on more hysteria, we must not fall back to racial prejudice and discrimination and profiling.

So today, it is critically important, more than ever, to speak up against possible unjust policies that may come before this body, and we must also be able to speak to it. And it is even more important than ever to educate Americans of the Japanese American experience during World War II, as well as the experience of other groups like the Japanese Latin Americans who were extricated from Latin America, brought over here, had their documents taken away from them, and becoming individuals without a country to be used as pawns in exchange for POWs. And then the German and Italian Americans who were also victimized.

In order to learn the important lessons from our own history, I did introduce H.R. 56, the Day of Remembrance resolution here in this body. Teaching the lessons of those dark days is more important today than it ever was, remembering Executive Order 9066, signed on February 19, 1942 and then rescinded on August 10 of 1988, there are many events that flowed from those two orders and that we must continue to learn from our history.

There is a maturity in this country that I am very proud of. That maturity says we can learn from our mistakes of the past and we can also teach others of our lessons that we have learned from our past. We have learned that the Executive Order 9066 was not signed out of military necessity, was not signed out of national security, was not signed out of personal safety and security of the Japanese American, but the Commission on Wartime Internment and Relocation of Civilians said, and they concluded, that it was a result of racial prejudice, war hysteria, and the failure of political leadership.

Today, as we heard from our colleagues today, Mr. Speaker, that this leadership must not fail again. and to that end, we must continuously teach ourselves and reteach ourselves and remember the lessons of the past so that we do not repeat them again. It is a country like the United States, it is a country like this country that my father, although he was interned with the rest of his family, and although he even volunteered for the military intelligence service to teach language to the naval intelligence officers, that he held this sense of loyalty to this country, even though the families were incarcerated. And he taught us that in spite of these experiences, that we, his children, must be a good reflection of his loyalty and that we, as we grow up, must become more American than anybody else that we could run into, and that we must be 110 percent American. Part of that Americanism is to never, ever make the same mistakes again.

We learned from that experience in 1942, and we learned from the experience of 9/11, that this Constitution of this country is never tested in times of tranquility, that our Constitution is always tested in times of trauma, tragedy, terrorism, and tension, and that the very principles of our Constitution need to be, continuously need to be taught until it is ingrained in our own character, so that every decision we make as a citizen, as adults, as children, as students and as policymakers, that we will always be true to the principles of our Constitution. For it is for those reasons why people around this world fight to come to this country and be part of this country, struggle to be a part of this democracy, because they know that the protection of this Constitution is the American dream. The protection of our Constitution is that which our forefathers and our veterans have shed their blood and sacrificed their limbs and lives so that our Constitution may live and really be reflected in every action that we have, not only in this body, but by every action of every citizen of this country.

So, Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for this opportunity to bring Resolution 56, the Day of Remembrance, before this body.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding, and I bid him and my colleagues here in the House a very fond aloha from my home State of Hawaii.

As the gentleman has noted, my home State of Hawaii is a State that has a tremendous representation of people of Asian descent. Pacific islanders and Asians make up more than 50 percent of the composition of my State. So in areas of ethnic issues, we are particularly sensitive for both our history and for our modern day; and my State is a State that is very proud of many things, many things about it, from our fantastic environment which so many people have enjoyed, to our native Hawaiian culture which has brought really to the world a spirit of aloha, a spirit of how to live together in harmony with both nature and with each other.

But I think the one thing that we are the most proud of in Hawaii and certainly that I am the most proud of in Hawaii, as somebody whose family goes back for four generations there, is our multiethnic tradition. We are again easily the most diverse ethnic composition of any State in the entire country. No ethnic group of the many that we have in Hawaii has a majority. The highest ethnic group in Hawaii has only about 26, 27 percent; the second highest, 24, 25 percent. So we are very conscious of our relationships with each other from an ethnic perspective, a State where over 50 percent now of all marriages are multiethnic marriages; over 50 percent of all births are multiethnic births, including my own children who carry the blood of eight separate ethnic groups in their own veins and carry it without anybody giving any thought to it whatsoever; and where Americans of Japanese ancestry have long been a very significant minority in our history.

So for all of us in Hawaii, all of us, whether we are of Japanese ancestry or

Caucasian ancestry or Portuguese ancestry or Chinese ancestry or Korean or some of the more recent immigrant groups such as Marshallese, Laotian, Vietnamese, Thai, when we read of comments by one of my colleagues on the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Homeland Security, the very subcommittee that is being called upon to make judgments on behalf of all of us in this country on matters of internal security, how we treat our citizens during a time of war, our reactions range from puzzlement, frankly, in some cases to outrage. And, Mr. Speaker, I must confess I do not really know myself what to make of those comments, because those thoughts expressed are so foreign to my own thinking and to the thinking of those in my State.

And as I went back to my district over the district work period and talked to my constituents, they brought up these comments. It was not really always a matter of outrage, although some were outraged. It was more a matter of puzzlement. What was it that was occurring? What was it that this colleague was thinking? What exactly was it? Was it just a slip of the tongue? We all make slips of the tongue, and we all are willing to forgive a slip of the tongue. Was it ignorance of the facts, or was it a reflection of more deliberate thinking? And unfortunately we do not know which one it is because, to this day, there has been no good explanation offered.

Personally I am willing to accept, and I think most of the people in my State and perhaps in the country are willing to accept, that it was ignorance; willing to accept, as my State legislature right now is resolving, that what is needed here is not any kind of accusations, not any kind of harsh words. What is really needed is education and sensitization to the fact, and that while we need to get beyond this specific incident, nonetheless it again tells us that we must remember that sometimes well-intentioned people can act inexcusably, out of simple ignorance, and that by constant remembrance we can avoid repeats.

So I want to remember today what happened in my own State during the time of the Second World War, during the time when 100-some-odd thousand-plus Americans of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and interned in internment camps on the U.S. mainland. I want to remember what happened in Hawaii because that is a part of this story that is not often told. What happened in a State where 37 percent of the population on December 7, 1941, 37 percent were Americans of Japanese ancestry? What happened in a State which was the very site of the attack that put us into World War II? Again 37 percent, and this was not just an isolated population on the mainland. There were a number of Americans of Japanese ancestry mostly living in the smaller communities, not always but mostly. They were not quite as integrated into the society. In Hawaii it was a full integration. We had lived there. They had lived there for over 100 years. For decades they had been fully integrated into the society. In 1941 many were already serving in our U.S. Armed Forces. They had already been drafted. They were already serving in the famous 100th battalion, which was formed out of draftees prior to World War II, including my own former boss right here in this Chamber, my political mentor, the former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senator from Hawaii, Spark Matsunaga. They were the vanguard of what became a legend in U.S. military history in the second world war because the 100th battalion and later the 442nd regimental combat team, which later merged, in which 3,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry from Hawaii volunteered, a unit which went on throughout the Second World War to become the most decorated unit for its size in the entire history of the United States military; a number of medals of honor including my colleague, the senior Senator from Hawaii, Daniel K. Inouye; a number of Distinguished Services Crosses, Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, French Croz de Guerres; 649 killed in action, 67 missing, 9,486 Purple Hearts.

These were people obviously that were dedicated to their country, and yet on December 8, 1941, 1,500 of them were rounded up, Japanese ancestry Americans living in Hawaii were rounded up and interned in Hawaii on Sand Island and interrogated. Some were released; but some, over half of them, were sent to the mainland and interned for the duration of the war. And not only did it affect them, it affected their families. In many cases they went to the mainland to become interned. Why? They were American citizens. Their families had lived in the United States in Hawaii. They were interned because they were educators, because they were Buddhist priests, because they were business leaders. If they were in positions of leadership in the Japanese community in Hawaii, they were suspect just because of that. And there was more than one case in which a son would serve his country in World War II on Anzio and other locations up and down Italy and France while his own father was interned in an internment camp in the United States. Imagine a son, imagine the dedication to a country of a son going into battle when his own father was interned. Yes, it was not as serious as the mainland Americans of Japanese ancestry.

And there were heroes in this story, and one of the heroes was the FBI agent in charge in Hawaii during this period, a gentleman by the name of Robert Shivers. It is a little known fact that Robert Shivers arrived in Hawaii in 1939, probably, we would suspect, with perhaps the same sentiments as others that had come from the mainland to a strange place where Americans of Japanese ancestry were 38 percent of the population, at a time when the United States knew it was going to war with Japan and all Americans of Japanese ancestry really were suspect in some people's eyes, and yet only 1,500 were rounded up. Why was that? Because Agent Shivers spent 2 years trying to understand the community, because he went out into the community. He said that after conferring with people in Hawaii, citizens that had lived in this multiethnic society, he said this: ``It was not until I conferred with you that I began to understand the complex racial conditions in Hawaii. You gave me a group of loyal citizens of Japanese ancestry who proved invaluable in helping me shape my course.'' And it is obvious to all of us now in retrospect, after the action of this Congress in issuing an apology and in the actions to evaluate the work of our government during the Second World War in cases such as Koramatsu, it is obvious that had Agent Shivers not been the person that he was, no doubt Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii would have met the same basic conditions as occurred to their colleagues and their family members on the mainland.

So, Mr. Speaker, I give these words. I give these words because again I say that what we can all take out of the occurrence of the remarks by our colleague is not to drag him over the coals. I think we are way beyond that. That is not what this is about. This is simply an opportunity again for us to remember, all of us to remember, that good people can sometimes have thoughts that are just not right, and it is simply a matter of not knowing.

So we can look to history in this case. We can look to the history of the Americans of Japanese ancestry. They were not unique. The same thing happened to Americans of German ancestry, Americans of Italian ancestry. And we can say to ourselves that there is absolutely no reason in the whole world why the same thing could not happen again under similar circumstances to ethnic groups in our country other than those three.

So as we consider this resolution which I have been very proud to co- sponsor, as we consider the motivation behind the resolution, and I commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) for introducing this resolution, let us consider again that this is a time simply for us to all pause, let us take a deep breath, and let us just remember what happened and think to ourselves is there any reason whatsoever to assume that without constant vigilance, constant caution, and constant remembrance could it not happen again? That is the lesson for us to carry outside of this unfortunate occurrence, and that is the lesson that my own home State of Hawaii can offer to our country and the rest of the world.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership of the Asian Pacific American Caucus and our tri-caucus, actually, because it is really a privilege to belong to the tri-caucus, the Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Black Caucus. We join the gentleman today in celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. In my district, the Ninth Congressional District of California, the east bay of Northern California, Asian Pacific Americans have long played a very crucial role in the life and in the history of the east bay and the region's identity has been deeply shaped by its place on the Pacific Rim. I am proud again to join him tonight in celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The contributions to our country by Asian Pacific Americans are numerous, and we are a much better country as a result. However, today Asian Americans confront a wide variety of challenges, including access to educational opportunities, language access issues, and health problems and disparities.

Specifically, I would just like to talk this evening about health care issues, immigration and civil liberties issues and about the work being done in my own district by the Asian Health Services organization and the Asian Law Caucus. Asian Health Services is a comprehensive community health center based in Oakland, California. It provides medical care, health education, insurance counseling, and client advocacy. They reach out into the underserved Asian and Pacific Islander population in Alameda County. Its staff members offer its services in nine languages. They provide almost 60,000 medical visits to some 14,000 patients each year. And they are doing this on minimal resources. In the process, they are helping to tear down language and economic barriers that separate far too many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from quality health care.

As we all know, there are vast health disparities in this country. Asian and Pacific Americans are disproportionately affected by cancer and other serious diseases. Asian and Pacific Americans have a tuberculosis rate that is 15 times higher than that of whites. They have cervical and liver cancer rates that are five times the national average. These disparities we must erase, and we must commit ourselves to do that tonight as we celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Recent immigrants also face many challenges from language barriers to medical bureaucracy. Organizations like Asian Health Services are helping their clients conquer their challenges through community outreach, education, and patient care. In recent years, AHS has also opened a very badly needed dental clinic. As part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I want to salute the contributions tonight of the Asian Health Services. In this age of State and Federal budget deficits and Federal tax cuts, their commitment is needed now more than ever. Immigrants are especially at risk during these perilous times.

As part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I believe that it is very important to call to the attention of the country a hero for many of us who I am privileged to say lives in my district and is a constituent, Mr. Fred Korematsu. During World War II when thousands of Japanese Americans were unjustly interned in camps, Fred Korematsu refused to go and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Mr. Korematsu stood up not only for his own rights but for civil liberties for all of us. Racial profiling really was not a word or a concept in 1942, but it was practiced with vengeance. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II represents one of the darkest chapters in our Nation's history. Tens of thousands of people were imprisoned not because of disloyalty, but because of ethnicity; and the President, the Congress, and the Supreme Court all conspired in this act of fear and prejudice.

When Fred Korematsu took his case to the Supreme Court in 1944, the Court ruled in favor of the government and thus in favor of racism and oppression. But by exposing the truth, Fred Korematsu exposed for all of the world to see the utter hypocrisy of fighting for democracy abroad while rationing it here at home. And although it took many, many decades, Fred Korematsu finally won when President Reagan apologized for the internment and Congress finally offered compensation.

I am very proud to say that the Asian Law Caucus fought for Fred Korematsu as it has fought for many Asian Americans. For 31 years, the Asian Law Caucus has advanced the legal and civil rights of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Now those communities and our society unfortunately as a whole need that advocacy even more. As attorneys and as legal professionals, we need the skills and the energy and the commitment of lawyers associated with the Asian Law Caucus. Educational opportunities and legal support services are both shrinking under this current administration.

The representation provided to hundreds of low-income clients and the advocacy of the caucus is really making an impact in both high-profile litigation and in the lives of families and individuals each and every day. By fighting for housing, fairness in employment, and the rights of seniors; by stopping unlawful evictions and helping immigrants navigate, and really they have to navigate, the citizenship process, the Asian Law Caucus is strengthening democracy and carrying out the legacies of the civil rights movement of the last century.

So as a proud member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, I am proud to join with the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) tonight to make sure that our entire country understands why we are celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Let

us make sure that we represent Asian Pacific Americans every month, each and every day as we develop our policies and our legislation that ensure liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) for organizing this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, on February 19, 1942, then 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 parts of California instructing families to report to the area's assembly center, the Santa Anita Racetrack, with just the bare necessities, leaving behind their homes, their lives and most personal belongings. Because permanent camps were yet to be built, the Santa Anita Racetrack was home to Santa Clara Valley's internees for at least 3 months. Santa Clara Valley Japanese Americans were forced to live in horse stables until a permanent camp was built for them.

In America, 110,000 Japanese Americans and others, not aliens, people of German and Italian descent who were Americans, 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 Santa Anita internees were transported to a camp far away from home, the Heart Mountain Internment Camp in northern Wyoming. Most remained there until the end of the war, 3 long years later.

The horror for Santa Clara County Japanese Americans did not end there. Upon release, approximately 7,000 people moved back to Santa Clara County. 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 some Japanese American neighbors and was able to preserve that property and return it at the end of the internment so some people in our area did not lose 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 books. My mother was a young woman in 1942. My dad was in the Army, and she was building airplanes at the Douglas aircraft factory for the war effort.

She told me when I was young about driving past the race track 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 did not know how to change it. She felt powerless, but she 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 about what he did to her neighbors.

There was no apology, no financial support, no help from the Federal Government until many years later. On February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford formally rescinded executive order 9066.

And in 1980 Congress funded the adopted legislation, establishing the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment. 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. Most importantly, an apology was finally given.

By then, my neighbors and my parents' neighbors who had been unjustly incarcerated, our friend, Ed, Jimmy, dad's neighbors, Ted, Raiko, Sam, 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.

I am proud to say that on February 5 of this year, my colleague from Santa Clara County (Mr. Honda) introduced H. Res. 56, a resolution supporting the goals of the Japanese, German, and Italian American communities in recognizing a national day of remembrance and to increase public awareness of the events surrounding the restriction, exclusion, and internment of individuals and families during World War II. This resolution has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary on which I serve and currently has over 60 cosponsors.

Today, I support the resolution of the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) to recognize February 19 as a 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 page in history. I would urge the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, my colleague, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), to quickly schedule action for this important resolution so that the country can, once again, engage in healing, and I honor my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) for his efforts in helping all Americans to heal.