[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 147 (Thursday, December 4, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNITION OF THE SACRAMENTO JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE, 
           ISAO FUJIMOTO, TOM OKUBO AND THE LATE MITSUYE ENDO

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 4, 2014

  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of The 
Sacramento Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Isao Fujimoto, Tom 
Okubo and the late Mitsuye Endo. As Sacramento JACL and community 
leaders gather to celebrate their organization and these three 
outstanding individuals, I ask all my colleagues to join me in honoring 
them for their great contributions to the Sacramento region and beyond.
  Isao Fujimoto was born in 1922 and his family farmed strawberries in 
Santa Clara County. During World War II he spent time at the internment 
camps at Heart Mountain and Tule Lake. After the war he received 
degrees from University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, 
and Cornell University. Prior to joining the faculty at the University 
of California at Davis, he served in the United States Army as a 
correspondent in Korea and taught chemistry and English at San Jose 
High School. At UC Davis, Professor Fujimoto created many of the Asian 
American programs on campus and helped found the Students of Asian 
American Studies Program. Professor Fujimoto is active in the community 
and is very involved with the Central Valley Partnership. Professor 
Fujimoto is married to Christine Fry and they have two children.
  Tom Okubo, born in 1925 in Stockton and attended Sacramento High 
School before being sent to the Tule Lake Relocation Camp at the age of 
17. During World War II, Mr. Okubo was drafted into the United States 
Army and later served in the Korean War. Returning from war, he went 
back to school, met his wife Sue and they were married in 1948. He 
worked for the State of California for 37 years and started Sacramento 
Custom Tours when he retired in 1988. He and Sue have two children, two 
grandchildren, and a great grandson. Mr. Okubo is a true community 
leader and remains active in JACL, VFW and other community 
organizations.
  Mitsuye Endo was born in Sacramento in 1920. In 1942 President 
Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. At this time, Ms. Endo was 
working as a keypunch operator at the Department of Employment. She was 
dismissed from the State of California along with over 300 other 
Japanese-American employees as a result of EO 9066. Along with 100 
others, she appealed this decision. Ms. Endo and her family were sent 
to the Walerga Assembly Relocation Center, then to Tule Lake and later 
to Topaz, Utah. Ms. Endo rightfully felt her confinement was 
unconstitutional and had the courage to stand up and declare it. She 
began fighting to get her civil liberties back by filing a petition for 
a Writ of Habeas Corpus. The petition was denied, but Ms. Endo did not 
stop pursuing her case and her unalienable rights. Eventually her case 
made it to the Supreme Court. Ms. Endo's case would go down in history 
as Ex Parte Endo, and the Supreme Court eventually ruled in her favor. 
After Ms. Endo was released from the relocation camps, she married 
Kenneth Tsutsumi and they raised three children. In 2006, Ms. Endo 
passed away at the age of 85. In July 2014, Ms. Endo received a 
Presidential Medal of Freedom for her brave efforts as a loyal American 
in World War II.
  Mr. Speaker, as the members of the Sacramento Japanese American 
Citizens League gather to honor Isao Fujimoto, Tom Okubo and the late 
Mitsuye Endo, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing them for 
their exemplary accomplishments and dedication to our nation.

                          ____________________