[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H664-H665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 AND JAPANESE INTERNMENT

  (Ms. TOKUDA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt 
signed Executive Order No. 9066, which led to the forced removal and 
incarceration of over 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry.
  My great-grandfather, Seiki Takasato, was one such ``issei,'' ``first 
generation,'' taken from his home in Puunene, Maui, and sent to 
Honouliuli on Oahu, Sharp Park in California, and finally ending up at 
the internment camp in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  It was there that he painted this picture. Guilty of nothing else but 
being of Japanese descent, internees like my ``jiji,'' ``great-
grandfather'' were stripped of everything they owned--

[[Page H665]]

homes, property, and life savings--and denied the most basic human and 
civil rights.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand before you as one of millions of descendants who 
will never forget. We bear the familial scars from a time filled with 
xenophobia, hate, and fear. Be that as it may, we also embody the 
``gaman,'' ``enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and 
dignity'' of those who came before us, committed to making sure we 
learn from the mistakes of our past lest we are doomed to repeat them.
  With everything happening in our country and our world, let us stand 
up and recommit to ensuring that such atrocities never stain our 
collective conscience again.

                          ____________________