[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE OWENS RIVER VALLEY ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION AND MANZANAR LAND 
                          TRANSFER ACT OF 1996

                                 ______


                         HON. ROBERT T. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 5, 1996

  Mr. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleague Jerry 
Lewis in introducing legislation that would allow the Federal 
Government to rapidly obtain the lands designated as the Manzanar 
National Historic Site.
  During World War II, 11,000 Japanese-Americans were held at the 
Manzanar Internment Camp. These individuals were some of the over 
120,000 Japanese-Americans interned at 10 sites throughout the United 
States.
  The National Park Service determined in the 1980's that of the 10 
former internment camps, Manzanar was best suited to be preserved and 
to thus serve as a reminder to Americans of the glaring violation of 
civil rights that the internment represented. As a result, the Congress 
passed legislation in 1992 to establish a National Historic Site at 
Manzanar.
  The legislation that Mr. Lewis and I are introducing will allow us to 
finish the process of creating the Manzanar National Historic Site. The 
bill will make it possible for the Federal Government to obtain the 
Manzanar site through a land exchange with the Los Angeles Department 
of Water and Power [LADWP], which currently owns the property. LADWP 
recently reached an agreement with the National Park Service, the 
Bureau of Land Management, and Inyo County that identifies a land 
exchange that can occur rapidly once our legislation is passed. I 
commend these parties, as well as the Manzanar National Historic Site 
Advisory Commission and the Japanese-American community, for their work 
in bringing us to this stage in the process. I also deeply appreciate 
the commitment of my colleague, Jerry Lewis, to this effort.
  In 1988, the Congress passed legislation to make redress for the 
suffering that Japanese-Americans endured as a result of the 
internment. In addition to directing an official apology by the Federal 
Government and symbolic payments to Japanese Americans that were 
interned, the bill included efforts to educate Americans about the 
internment. In many ways, this final aspect of redress is the most 
important. It is essential that we instill in our citizens a high level 
of public awareness about the internment, so that our country never 
again makes such a terrible mistake. Creation of a national historic 
site at Manzanar clearly will make an important contribution to this 
effort. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, so that we can 
quickly make the Manzanar National Historic Site a reality.

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