[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 5, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1023-E1024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN RECOGNITION OF BARBARA TAKEI

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 5, 2016

  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Ms. Barbara Takei, who 
is being awarded the National Parks Conservation Association's Marjorie 
Stoneman Douglas Award for her work in the protection of the Tule Lake 
confinement site as a national park. As her family, friends and 
colleagues gather to celebrate her long list of valiant 
accomplishments, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this awe-
inspiring individual who has served and contributed greatly to the 
National Park System.
  Born in Sacramento, the daughter of camp internees, Ms. Takei was 
raised in Detroit and graduated from Howard University. She eventually 
became the chief financial officer of the non-profit Tule Lake 
Committee, an organization focused on the education and recognition of 
Tule Lake, one of the largest and most controversial sites where 
thousands of men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were 
incarcerated and detained. Ms. Takei is being honored for spearheading 
the effort to prevent the construction of an intrusive fence for an 
airport on the Segregation Center Property, which would have disturbed 
visitor access to the site and its visual history. Without her 
longstanding and tireless leadership, the Tule Lake confinement site 
would likely not be a protected unit of the National Park System today.
  In addition to her steadfast fight for national park protection, Ms. 
Takei has been active in the community for preserving the cultural 
history of Japanese-Americans, as well as spending the past decade 
researching and writing about Tule Lake's segregation history.
  Mr. Speaker, as the members of the National Parks Conservation 
Association celebrate and recognize Ms. Barbara Takei for her 
accomplishments and value to the National Park System at the annual 
Tule Lake Pilgrimage, along with Tule Lake survivors and their 
families, I ask all my colleagues to join me in honoring this 
outstanding individual.

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