Japanese American World War II History Network Act

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6434, the Japanese American WWII History Network Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish, within the National Park Service, the Japanese American World War II History Network.

We must never forget the maltreatment that these Americans endured.

The establishment of this network would educate generations to come on past racial injustices in our country, in an effort to avoid future prejudice.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, marked the United States' official entrance into World War II.

Two months later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered 120,000 people of Japanese descent to be forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps, based on the widespread suspicion that they were acting as foreign agents.

The belief was baseless, but that didn't stop the War Relocation Authority from rounding up more than 120,000 people--two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens.

Japanese Americans were interned and essentially treated as prisoners.

After decades of pressure from the Japanese American League (JACL) and the Japanese American community, President Jimmy Carter opened an investigation to determine if the imprisonment of these people was justified by the government.

The investigation found virtually no evidence of Japanese disloyalty and concluded that the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans was a product of abject racism.

In 1988, over 40 years after the internment camps closed, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which offered a formal apology for the government's policy toward Japanese Americans and paid $20,000 in compensation to each of the 80,000 living survivors.

The reparations granted to the survivors and the official apology were necessary for our country to move past this grave racial injustice.

It must be noted that, just as our government recognized that reparations to the Japanese American community was necessary to acknowledge and move beyond that injustice, America's original racist tragedy must be similarly addressed.

On July 30, 2008 the U.S. House of Representatives passed H. Res. 194 apologizing for American slavery and subsequent discriminatory laws.

The Senate has never passed a resolution, and no reparations have been granted.

Millions of Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States from 1619 through 1865.

Slavery in America resembled no other form of involuntary servitude known in history, as Africans were captured and sold at auction like inanimate objects or animals.

Africans forced into slavery were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage.

In 2022, he passage of H.R. 40 is essential to solving the deep racial, economic, social, and cultural divides in America.

Now more than ever, the facts and circumstances facing our nation demonstrate the importance of H.R. 40 and the necessity of placing our nation on the path to reparative justice.

By passing H.R. 40, Congress can start a movement toward the national reckoning that we need in order to bridge racial divides.

Reparations are ultimately about respect and reconciliation and the hope that someday, all Americans can walk together toward a more just future.

We owe it to the millions of Americans who were born into bondage, knew a life of servitude, and died anonymous deaths, as prisoners of this system.

We owe it to the millions of descendants of these slaves, for they are the heirs to a society of inequities and indignities that naturally filled the vacuum after slavery was formally abolished 154 years ago.

Madam Speaker, the establishment of the Japanese American WWII History Network would represent much more than just a resource that will educate on inequality and brutality in America.

It represents Americans moving past injustices and honoring those who were once victims of racial discrimination in our country.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 6434, the Japanese American WII History Network.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1931 the Japanese American Confinement Education Act that would provide education to elevate understanding about the confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II. In addition to a museum-based educational program, this bill would permanently reauthorize the Japanese American Confinement Sites Preservation Program.

H.R. 1931 will direct the Department of the Interior to establish a program of grants to Japanese American museums to educate about the confinement of Japanese Americans as a means to understand the importance of democratic principles, the use and abuse of power, and to raise awareness about the importance of cultural tolerance toward Japanese Americans.

Two months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order that authorized the relocation of Japanese Americans, most of whom were U.S. citizens, to designated camps nationwide.

Teaching about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII would emphasize the importance of understanding the terrible social injustices that have been inflicted upon racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States.

Highlighting this subject would create a thoughtful, deep awareness about our community, our world, and ourselves.

We must teach that the incarceration of Japanese Americans was wrong, and that racism is wrong.

This sort of hysteria may occur again, and people must do their part to make sure that it never happens again.

Iluminating and confronting the tragedy inflicted upon Japanese Americans during WWII can help shape the citizens who will lead us into a more socially aware future.

Keeping the memories of incarceration alive also gives Japanese Americans the ability and responsibility to speak out when other groups are unfairly targeted on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or other identity.

My former colleague Congressman Norman Mineta, who represented the constituents of California's 13th and 15th Congressional districts, is a survivor of the Heart Mountain internment camp near Cody, Wyoming.

In his remarks during a House debate on the passage of the Civil Liberties Act, he exclaimed that he, and all the other prisoners, ``lost [their] most basic human rights. [Their] own government had branded [them] with the unwarranted stigma of disloyalty which clings to [them] still to this day.''

Secretary Mineta helped lead the efforts to pass the Civil Liberties Act, which offered a formal apology from the United States Government for its policies toward Japanese Americans and paid each of the 80,000 living survivors $20,000 in compensation.

His tenacity and faith led him to become a member of Congress for 20 years, Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton, and Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush.

It is our duty as Members of Congress to honor and commemorate Secretary Mineta, and all other survivors of this unjust racial attack, by passing this bill and educating everyone on these atrocities to ensure nothing like this will ever happen again.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6434, offered by my committee colleague, Mr. Obernolte of California, to establish a Japanese American World War II History Network within the National Park Service.

As Chairman Grijalva stated, this bill is complementary to the previous bill we considered today with the JACS program in it.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from the West Coast to relocation centers across the United States. Japanese

Americans were imprisoned without trial and forced to relocate to some of the most remote areas of our country, with few personal belongings. My State of Arkansas was home to two relocation camps, Rohwer in Desha County and Jerome in Chicot and Drew Counties.

Mr. Obernolte's bill, which I have proudly cosponsored, would establish a cohesive national network to increase the visibility of all sites related to the Japanese American experience during World War II. The network will be similar to existing networks established in recent years to connect sites associated with the Underground Railroad, the Reconstruction era, and the African American civil rights movement.

At the legislative hearing, Mr. Bruce Saito, chair of the Friends of Manzanar, testified about this critical network, saying: ``We must continue to strengthen the network and continue to connect the dots through the network so this tragic and very important lesson in history is never forgotten.''

The new network will be an important tool to ensure that this history, no matter how painful it may be, is always remembered, and the important stories of interned Japanese Americans are told with honor and respect.

In addition to the Friends of Manzanar, we have received letters of support from the Amache Preservation Society, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, the National Japanese American Historical Society, and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

I commend Mr. Obernolte for his work on this important legislation that will help future generations learn from and reflect on the experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his support, and I thank Mr. Obernolte for introducing the legislation. I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1931) to provide competitive grants for the promotion of Japanese American confinement education as a means to understand the importance of democratic principles, use and abuse of power, and to raise awareness about the importance of cultural tolerance toward Japanese Americans, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 1931, the Japanese American Confinement Education Act, introduced by my colleague, Representative Doris Matsui.

In 2006, Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program for the preservation and interpretation of U.S. confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.

These grants are awarded through a competitive process to entities working to preserve historic Japanese American incarceration sites. They require a 2:1 Federal to non-Federal match.

H.R. 1931 would authorize increased and much-needed funding for the program within the National Park Service, ensuring that the lessons and history of the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans is not forgotten, and that we continue to learn from the transgression of the past.

The bill will also establish a new competitive grant within the program that would support nonprofits to create and share educational materials about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

I congratulate my colleague, Representative Matsui, for championing this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui), sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case).

Mr. Speaker, I urge approval of H.R. 1931. The sponsor of the legislation, Representative Matsui, and also Representative Case have made, I think, the profound argument for the legislation and its support.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, the Japanese American Confinement Education Act. This bill builds upon one of my earliest achievements, reauthorizing the Japanese American Confinement Sites program established in 2006.

The Japanese American story is an important one. It needs to be told and retold. It is a story that cannot afford to be lost in time.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the authorization of Executive Order 9066. Yet, too many Americans do not know the history of the Japanese American community.

These Americans were stripped from their homes and sent to remote camps. Families were put behind barbed wire and guarded by armed soldiers.

Today, I speak to you on the floor of the people's House as a Member of this esteemed Chamber. Yet, my first 3 months of life were part of that pained experience. My parents were among those who lived in these appalling conditions, incarcerated solely because of their ancestry. This also included many people from the Sacramento region, including my late husband, Congressman Bob Matsui, who was only 6 months old when he was sent to one of these camps.

Those of us in the Japanese American community know all too well if we do not learn from history, we risk the chance of it repeating. That is why we must continue to lift up these stories. That is why we must continue to listen to those who came before us and teach this history to our future generations. These are the voices that my bill seeks to preserve.

There are still some people who think that by walling off our country from the less fortunate, that we will somehow make ourselves safer; that by making people feel like the other, that we will be more secure.

But that is not who the American people are. We have this wonderfully diverse Nation and it is together that we stand the strongest.

The story of Japanese Americans is something that Bob and I felt a responsibility to preserve; the history of individuals and families in the Japanese American community. And really, it is truly an American story of perseverance, persistence, and the love of this country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on educating our public about this important, painful piece of American history.