[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 27 (Friday, February 17, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E231-E232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 17, 2012

  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, February 19, 2012 marks the seventieth 
anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signing of 
Executive Order (EO) 9066, authorizing the relocation of 120,000 men, 
women, and children of Japanese descent living in the United States--my 
family included--to internment camps. As I look back on the past 
seventy years, I cannot help but reflect on the bravery and courage of 
three men whose intertwined stories shaped my inherent values and 
life's work: Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi, and my own father, 
Giichi ``Byron'' Honda.
  At the outbreak of World War II, Gordon was studying at the 
University of Washington. Fred tried to enlist in the U.S. National 
Guard and U.S. Coast Guard to serve his country but was turned away 
because of his Japanese ancestry. My father was pursuing his dream of 
becoming a doctor by working as a truck driver in order to pay his way 
through community college.
  All three men's lives and dreams were shattered when President 
Roosevelt signed EO 9066. Once the West Coast was declared as a 
military zone, my family and I were hauled to the Merced Assembly 
Center and then incarcerated at the Amache internment camp in southeast 
Colorado. While my family lived behind barbed wire, my father was 
recruited into the U.S. Military Intelligence Service at the University 
of Colorado Boulder, where he taught Japanese.
  Although this gross injustice propelled my family into years of 
separation, it would also unknowingly propel both Fred and Gordon--two 
ordinary men--to become preeminent Asian American and Pacific Islander 
civil rights leaders. Believing that the executive order violated the 
freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, Fred refused to comply with 
it, was subsequently arrested, convicted and sent to an internment camp 
in Utah. Gordon was also arrested, convicted and sent to an Arizona 
prison.
  In the face of these challenges, Fred and Gordon still maintained 
their core belief in the American justice system and equality. With the 
help of the American Civil Liberties Union, both appealed their cases 
all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court, however, ruled unfavorably 
to both, declaring the incarceration a ``military necessity,'' 
justified by the Army's claims.
  Although Fred and Gordon's fights to overturn their convictions took 
more than four decades, American justice and equality did ultimately 
prevail. Fred's conviction was overturned in 1983, and Gordon's in 
1987. Fred and Gordon's resistance paved the way for the eventual 
passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted reparations 
to Japanese Americans and was a fundamental step in acknowledging the 
injustices of the government's actions.
  Mr. Speaker, on today's Day of Remembrance, exactly seventy years 
after the signing of EO 9066, it is important to remember and share the 
lessons of those who bravely stood their ground against discrimination. 
Fred and Gordon's stories remind us that all individuals have the 
potential to do extraordinary deeds in extraordinary times by simply 
standing up for what is right, even if it feels like all forces are 
against us. Although life in Amache taught me that being Japanese in 
America was bad, my father reminded me that I should never feel ashamed 
of my heritage and that I should continue to work hard in order to be 
recognized.
  It is important to revisit the lessons that Fred Korematsu, Gordon 
Hirabayashi, my father, and other civil rights heroes have taught us 
because their stories are ones that transcend race, class and politics. 
They taught us that we must face discrimination and xenophobia with 
strong resolution or else we are vulnerable to repeating the egregious 
mistakes of the past.
  Discrimination is always lurking just below the surface and often 
reveals itself in trying times, but as all three men showed, ordinary 
Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary feats for themselves, 
their families, and their country. In the end, I learned that the 
highest respect and honor we can bestow upon those who struggled for a 
more perfect union is to continue their legacies, apply their 
unwavering principles, and make sure history, as in the case of EO 
9066, does not repeat itself.

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