[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  COMING HOME: JAPANESE-AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF 1942-1945--A 
                      SPECIAL GRADUATION CEREMONY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday May 7, 1997

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Japanese-
Americans who received honorary high school diplomas from the San 
Francisco Unified School District in a special graduation ceremony on 
May 6 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.
  The honorees were denied the opportunity to graduate from high school 
in San Francisco during World War II. The issuance of Executive Order 
9066 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, set 
into motion the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans including 
the honorees and their families for the remainder of World War II. The 
internees were given only 48-hour notice to sell or store their 
belongings, and evacuate their homes before they were herded into 10 
internment camps across this Nation. They were surrounded by barbed 
wire and watched over by armed military guards.
  Most of the honorees were only 17 or 18 years old at the time. They 
were removed from school as security risks. Yet, they were American 
citizens, the American-born sons and daughters of parents who emigrated 
from Japan.
  More than 50 years later, the honorees and their fellow internees are 
in the senior years of their lives. In the past decade or so, our 
Government has apologized and awarded reparations. The Civil Liberties 
Public Education Fund now supports efforts to educate others about the 
internment experience.
  The honorees' experiences are living symbols of a shameful period in 
American history which we must not repeat. As one of the planners of 
the ceremony expressed, it is a privilege to be part of a program that 
will enlighten so many, especially the students in our school system.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the individuals involved and the San Francisco 
Unified School District in planning this event to acknowledge the 
legacy of the Japanese-American experiences. I am grateful to the 
honorees for coming forward and sharing of themselves. I am proud to 
salute them.

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