[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 15 (Monday, January 30, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H708-H709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING FRED KOREMATSU DAY

  (Mr. TAKANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Fred Korematsu Day. I could 
hardly imagine a more relevant time to celebrate his fight for freedom 
and equality.
  When the United States incarcerated 115,000 Japanese Americans during 
World War II, including my parents and grandparents, Fred Korematsu 
resisted Executive Order 9066 and courageously stood up for the 
oppressed when few others would.
  History often forces us to ask ourselves: How would we have acted if 
we lived in that moment? Through the President's recent executive 
order, we no longer have to wonder.
  How you react to the Muslim ban today is how you would have reacted 
to the imprisonment of my grandparents and parents 75 years ago. If you 
are silent today, you would have been silent

[[Page H709]]

then. If you are complicit today, you would have been complicit then.
  This great institution is facing an enormous test of our commitment 
to liberty and justice for all. Let our children and grandchildren look 
back and see that we passed that test.

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