[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3] [House] [Pages 3143-3147] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]BAINBRIDGE ISLAND JAPANESE AMERICAN MONUMENT ACT OF 2007 Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 161) to adjust the boundary of the Minidoka Internment National Monument to include the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial in Bainbridge Island, Washington, and for other purposes. The Clerk read as follows: H.R. 161 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Bainbridge Island Japanese American Monument Act of 2007''. SEC. 2. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT. (a) In General.--The boundary of the Minidoka Internment National Monument, located in the State of Idaho and established by Presidential Proclamation 7395 of January 17, 2001, is adjusted to include the Nidoto Nai Yoni (``Let it not happen again'') memorial. That memorial-- (1) commemorates the Japanese Americans of Bainbridge Island, Washington, who were the first to be forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to internment camps during World War II under Executive Order 9066: and (2) consists of approximately 8 acres of land owned by the City of Bainbridge Island, Washington, as depicted on the map titled ``Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial'', numbered 194/80,003, and dated September, 2006. (b) Map.--The map referred to in subsection (a) shall be kept on file and made available for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Parks Service. SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION OF MONUMENT. (a) Administration.--The Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall administer the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial as part of Minidoka Internment National Monument in accordance with-- (1) Presidential Proclamation 7395 of January 17, 2001; (2) laws and regulations generally applicable to units of the National Park System, including the Act of August 25, 1916 (popularly known as the ``National Park Service Organic Act,''; 16 U.S.C. 1 et seq); and (3) any agreements entered into pursuant to subsection (b). (b) Agreements.-- (1) For the purposes of defining the role of the National Park Service in administering the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial owned by the City of Bainbridge Island, the Secretary is authorized to enter into agreements with-- (A) the City of Bainbridge Island; (B) the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park and Recreational District; (C) the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community Memorial Committee; (D) the Bainbridge Island Historical Society; (E) successor entities to the entities named in subparagraphs (A) through (D); and (F) other appropriate individuals or entities, at the discretion of the Secretary. (2) In order to implement an agreement provided for in paragraph (1), the Secretary may-- (A) make grants to the City of Bainbridge Island for development of an administrative and interpretive facility for the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial; (B) enter into a cooperative management agreement with the City of Bainbridge Island, pursuant to section 3(l) of Public Law 91-383 (16 U.S.C. 1a-2(l); popularly known as the ``National Park System General Authorities Act''), for the purpose of providing assistance with operation and maintenance of the memorial; (C) make grants to other non-Federal entities for other infrastructure projects at the memorial, subject to a match of non-Federal funding equal to the amount of a grant made pursuant to this paragraph; and (D) make grants or enter into cooperative agreements with non-Federal entities to support development of interpretive media for the memorial. (c) Administrative and Visitor Use Site.--The Secretary is authorized to operate and maintain a site in Seattle, Washington, for administrative and visitor use purposes associated with Minidoka Internment National Monument, using to the greatest extent practicable the facilities and other services of the Seattle unit of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. (d) Coordination of Interpretive and Educational Materials and Programs.-- [[Page 3144]] The Secretary shall coordinate the development of interpretive and educational materials and programs for the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial and the Minidoka Internment National Monument site in the State of Idaho with the Manzanar National Historic Site in the State of California. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) and the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. McMorris Rodgers) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona. General Leave Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and exclude extraneous material on the bill under consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Arizona? There was no objection. Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 161, introduced by my colleague on the Natural Resources Committee, the gentleman from Washington State, Representative Inslee. This noteworthy legislation would authorize a memorial to commemorate the Japanese Americans of Bainbridge Island, Washington, who were the first Americans to be forcibly removed from their homes and relocated in internment camps during World War II. The new memorial will serve as an important remembrance of a sad chapter in American history. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order providing for the relocation of Japanese Americans living along the west coast. On March 30, 1942, the relocation began at the Eagledale Ferry Dock, with 227 Bainbridge Island residents being forcibly removed to internment camps away from the coast. Eventually, more than 12,000 Japanese Americans in Washington State and more than 110,000 Japanese Americans along the west coast were relocated. Public Law 107-363 directed the Secretary of the Interior to study the Eagledale Ferry Dock on Bainbridge Island, Washington, to determine the suitability of designing the site as a unit of the National Parks System. The study was to include an analysis of the historical events associated with the dock and the potential for preserving and interpreting the site. On May 1, 2006, the Department of Interior transmitted to Congress the study report. The study recommended designating a memorial site on Bainbridge Island, and that memorial will be managed as a satellite site of the Minidoka Internment National Monument, an existing National Park System unit in Idaho. H.R. 161 would implement the recommendations contained in the study. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend and congratulate my colleague, Mr. Inslee, for his commitment and leadership in this matter. A hearing was held on a nearly identical measure last Congress, and Representative Inslee arranged for the Subcommittee on National Parks to receive moving testimony from an internee whose photograph showing her holding her infant child has become a searing image of the internment. I would also note that for most of us the internment of Japanese Americans was a historical event that we read about in history books, but for two of our colleagues it was part of their life experience. My colleagues, Mike Honda and Doris Matsui, spent part of their childhoods in internment camps. I want to acknowledge their experiences in this unfortunate episode in history. Mr. Speaker, we strongly support passage of H.R. 161 and urge its adoption by the House today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 161 and yield myself as much time as I may consume. This legislation further recognizes a tragic period in our Nation's history by designating the ``let it not happen again'' Memorial on Bainbridge Island, Washington, as part of the Minidoka Internment National Monument in the State of Idaho. While a hearing was held on this legislation in the 109th Congress, we are concerned that this bill has not gone through the markup process, where issues in this bill, such as its inclusion of 8 acres of land in the State of Washington in a monument over 700 miles away, could have been discussed. Additionally, it is critical to point out that the National Park Service testified that this bill could divert scarce resources that are needed for existing parks and programs. That being said, we will not oppose the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend Congressman Jay Inslee of Washington for bringing forth H.R. 161 and yield to him as much time as he may consume. Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, today, when we pass the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Monument Act of 2007, we will be making a strong American statement. That statement will be that the power of fear will never again be allowed to overcome the promise of liberty. These are images we should never see again in America; and today, with the passage of this bill, we will make a strong American statement that they will not. On March 30, 1942, the American Army, pursuant to an executive order by an American President, rounded up 227 Americans living on Bainbridge Island and marched them down the Eagledale Dock in Eagle Harbor of Bainbridge Island, Washington, surrounded by American soldiers, some having bayonets deployed. They were taken away to internment against their will, without trial and without recognition of their rights as citizens and their honor to serve America. And now, today, when we are making the memorial on Bainbridge Island at the site of this dock, which is now being prepared and is under construction, we will be making an American statement that this cannot happen again. The saying is ``Nidoto Nai Yoni, never let it happen again,'' and by making this part of our National Parks System, we will be making a statement that these images will never happen to any generation of any creed in America. I want to note some of the people. This is a picture of a young fellow at that time named Frank Kinamoto. In this picture, Frank had his little tag. Everyone was given a little tag they had to wear with a number on it. Frank grew up to be a respected dentist on Bainbridge Island, and Frank has done personally what this legislation will do nationally. He has spent many years going around showing a collection of photographs telling young students why the protection of our civil liberties is critical and why we should never be overcome by fear again, and I pay respects to Frank and his efforts. Another young woman at the time, who testified several months ago, who has been pivotal in this effort, Fumiko Hayashida, shown with her daughter here just before she was marched down that pier. Fumiko came to town, who is 95 years young, who is the oldest internee that we are aware of, to send Congress a message to make a national statement to memorialize this. Now, there are three reasons I think it is important that we pass this bill. First, although this was a tragic episode in American history, it was an episode involving patriotism because, and this is incredible to me, of the 227 people marched down that pier, 62 of them turned around and volunteered to serve their nation in World War II, and 62 of these people served with distinction. These people were the ultimate patriots. Having been sent to camps by Uncle Sam, to turn around and fight for the freedoms to which they were not entitled was the ultimate act of patriotism, and we honor them as an act of patriotism in this memorial. Second, it is a memorialization of their neighbors. Many of their neighbors rallied around them. Many of their neighbors guarded some of their equipment to wait for them to come home. And Walt Widward, the publisher of the Bainbridge Island Review, [[Page 3145]] was the only publisher on the western coast of the United States to editorialize against this violation of American values. That is something to memorialize. But, most importantly, Nidoto Nai Yoni, never let it happen again. And this will be a statement to ourselves, to our children, to our grandchildren, that, when we are in fear in this country, we should never lose that anchor of American civil rights and civil liberties in respect to what we are as Americans. We have gone through these days in the last several years. We have experienced fear that sometimes has infected the discussion here in the Chamber; and when we go through and deal with our fears today, I think it is well that we take a lesson from history of 1942 to hew to the power of liberty, rather than the power of fear. So I am happy today that we will pass this bill that will make this part of our National Parks System. I will invite all Americans to come visit us in Bainbridge Island. We will invite the world to come see that America is a country that makes mistakes but learns and improves. And this is a continuation of that American tradition of improving the American value system. So I am happy today this House will take this step. I want to thank the Bainbridge Island community and all of those who worked on this project. Clarence Moriwaki, who has led the effort on Bainbridge Island, congratulations. And congratulations to America for always being an improving country. Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, at this point, I would like to yield 6 minutes to my good friend and colleague from Oregon, Congressman Wu. Mr. WU. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 161, to expand the Minidoka Internment National Monument to include the Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial, which commemorates the Japanese Americans of Bainbridge Island, the Japanese Americans of Bainbridge Island, Washington, who were interned during World War II. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order which forcibly removed approximately 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry from their homes, their friends, and their communities. They were incarcerated by this government for their ancestry. Just over 1 month after the executive order was signed, 227 Bainbridge island men, women, and children were sent to internment camps. They were the very first Japanese American families in the United States to be incarcerated. We in the Pacific Northwest would like to think that we live in a better part of the country, in a part of the country where things are the way they ought to be. But sometimes the way we want things to be is not the way things happen or reality. Because these Japanese Americans were taken from their homes in the heart of the Puget Sound. They were sailed to Seattle. They were loaded onto trains for a 3-day journey to Manzanar, a concentration camp in California's Mojave Desert. These Americans were the very first Americans to be so detained, and the last of the detainees were not released until October of 1946, 4\1/2\ years after the signing of the executive order and over a year after the end of World War II. But this chapter of our history did not end there. Upon release from the internment camps, Japanese Americans could not return to the lives that they had led before the tragic and misled executive order. I would like to submit further information about General DeWitt's decisions and recommendations, and I will do that at a different time, but during the period of internment, they had lost their homes, their businesses, and their livelihoods. By commemorating Japanese Americans who were so detained, we ensure that this sad episode in our history will never be forgotten and hopefully not repeated, because we need to learn from the mistakes of the past. Thirty years passed before the executive order was formally rescinded in 1976. In 1988, a Presidential apology was issued internees. This is not an abstraction. This is not a theoretical debate. The Military Commissions Act passed by this Congress on September 30, 2006, potentially puts American citizens at risk of military detention. That is a plain reading of the Military Commissions Act. It was hotly debated between the then chairmen of two committees and this Member. It has been commented upon to a limited extent in the national press. But I think that a fair reading of the Military Commissions Act would show you that if a person is just walking down the street and is detained by military authority for whatever reason, and we are not talking about aliens in Afghanistan, we are talking about someone walking down the streets of Portland, Oregon, or in Bainbridge Island. What could potentially happen to that person? The better course under the Military Commissions Act is that they are subject to military justice, a very limited review by a military tribunal, and the end of that appeal road is the Secretary of Defense. That is actually the better course. Now, I have to point out that there are 25 detainees in Guantanamo who, after 5 years of detention, have not had their first review yet; and I say that is the better course because the course that is actually more troubling under the Military Commissions Act is that if there is not a review, there is no appeal. There is no appeal to a civilian court. There is no habeas corpus, a doctrine which has served Anglo American societies well for almost a thousand years. This memorial, which H.R. 161 helps us remember, is not an abstraction. It was real suffering for the Japanese Americans, for the Americans who were incarcerated. But it is also a reminder that, as was said of the executive order much later, when actions are taken by this government in an atmosphere of hysteria, great injustices can be perpetrated; and we need to be careful in our era lest we be put in a position to issue an apology decades from now. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii passed under martial law, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended, and the military police took several hundred suspected spies and saboteurs of Japanese extraction into custody. But the very size of the Japanese community in Hawaii (nearly half the territory's population), and its vital importance to the islands' economy, foreclosed any thought of wholesale evacuation. The mainland community, however, was proportionately much smaller (in California, barely 1 percent of the population), more economically marginal and socially isolated, and long buffeted by racist pressures. The mainland Japanese for the most part kept warily to themselves, many of them toiling with exemplary efficiency on their family fruit and vegetable farms. Insular and quiescent, they were also internally riven by age and legal status. Their elders, the forty thousand first-generation immigrant Japanese, or Issei, were generally over the age of fifty and debarred from citizenship by the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, a statutory impediment that perversely exposed them to the accusation that as non-citizens they were poorly assimilated into American society. A majority of their children, the eighty thousand second-generation Nisei, were under the age of eighteen. Born in the United States, they were also citizens. Alien and citizen alike, the peculiarly vulnerable Pacific Coast Japanese community was about to feel the full wrath of war-fueled hysteria. Curiously, no clamor for wholesale reprisals against the mainland Japanese arose in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. The Los Angeles Times soberly editorialized on December 8 that most of the Japanese on the Coast were ``good Americans, born and educated as such,'' and serenely foresaw that there would be ``no riots, no mob law.'' General John L. DeWitt, chief of the army's Western Defense Command, at first dismissed loose talk of mass evacuations as ``damned nonsense.'' He condemned any broadside assaults on the rights of the American-born Nisei. ``An American citizen, after all, is an American citizen,'' he declared. Individual arrests were another matter. Government surveillance, ongoing since 1935, had identified some two thousand potentially subversive persons in the Japanese community. Along with fourteen thousand German and Italian security risks nationwide, they were quietly rounded up in the last days of 1941. But those individual detentions stopped well short of wholesale incarcerations. ``I was determined,'' Attorney General Francis Biddle wrote, ``to avoid mass internment, and the persecution of aliens that had characterized the First World War.'' In fact, the immigrants whose loyalty had been questioned during World War I had then [[Page 3146]] been freshly arrived and seemed to many observers unarguably alien. But by 1941 those older European groups were settled communities, well assimilated, their patriotism as well as their political loyalty actively cultivated by Roosevelt's New Deal. Though a surprising six hundred thousand Italians-- more than 10 percent of the entire Italian-American community--remained Italian citizens and were automatically labeled ``enemy aliens'' after Mussolini's declaration of war, Roosevelt instructed Biddle to cancel that designation in a joyfully received announcement at Carnegie Hall, shrewdly delivered on Columbus Day 1942, just weeks before the congressional elections. The Japanese were not so fortunate. As war rumors took wing in the weeks following Pearl Harbor, sobriety gave way to anxiety, then to a rising cry for draconian action against the Japanese on the West Coast. Inflammatory and invariably false reports of Japanese attacks on the American mainland flashed through coastal communities. Eleanor Roosevelt's airplane, en route to Los Angeles on the evening of the Pearl Harbor attack, was grounded in the Midwest while the first lady telephoned Washington to check a radio message that San Francisco was under bombardment. Painters at Stanford University blacked out the skylight of the library's main reading room so that it could not serve as a beacon to enemy pilots. Carpenters hammered up dummy aircraft plants in Los Angeles to decoy Japanese bombers away from the real factories. Athletic officials moved the traditional New Year's Day football classic from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California; the game was played instead in North Carolina, presumably safe from Japanese attack. Japan's astonishing string of victories in the Pacific further unsettled American public opinion. Hong Kong fell on December 2, Manila on January 2, Singapore on January 25. The release at the end of January of a government investigation of the Pearl Harbor attack proved the decisive blow. The report, prepared by Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts, alleged without documentation that Hawaii-based espionage agents, including Japanese-American citizens, had abetted Nagumo's strike force. Two days later, DeWitt reported ``a tremendous volume of public opinion now developing against the Japanese of all classes, that is aliens and non-aliens.'' DeWitt himself, described by Biddle as having a ``tendency to reflect the views of the last man to whom he talked,'' soon succumbed to Rumor's siren. He wildly declared to an incredulous Justice Department official that every ship sailing out of the Columbia had been attacked by submarines guided by clandestine radio operators near the river's mouth. When evidence of actual attacks failed to materialize, DeWitt invoked the tortured logic that the very absence of any sabotage activity on the West Coast proved the existence of an organized, disciplined conspiracy in the Japanese community, cunningly withholding its blow until it could be struck with lethal effect. In February the respected columnist Walter Lippmann alleged that military authorities had evidence of radio communications between ``the enemy at sea and enemy agents on land''--a charge that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had already advised Biddle was utterly without foundation. A radio technician from the Federal Communications Commission reviewed DeWitt's ``evidence'' of electronic signals and declared it hogwash. All 760 of DeWitt's suspicious radio transmissions could be accounted for, and not one involved espionage. ``Frankly,'' the technician concluded, ``I have never seen an organization [the U.S. Army's Western Defense Command] that was so hopeless to cope with radio intelligence requirements. The personnel is unskilled and untrained. Most are privates who can read only ten words a minute. . . . It's pathetic to say the least.'' But by this time facts were no protection against the building gale of fear and prejudice. ``Nobody's constitutional rights,'' Lippmann magisterially intoned, ``include the right to reside and do business on a battlefield.'' Lippmann's colleague Westbrook Pegler echoed him less elegantly a few days later: ``The Japanese in California should be under armed guard to the last man and woman right now,'' Pegler wrote in his widely read column, ``and to hell with habeas corpus until the danger is over.'' Unapologetically racist voices also joined the chorus. ``We're charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs for selfish reasons,'' a leader of California's Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association declared. ``We might as well be honest. We do. It's a question of whether the white man lives on the Pacific Coast or the brown man.'' Prodded by such sentiments, in early February 1942 DeWitt officially requested authority to remove all Japanese from the West Coast. It was impossible he claimed, to distinguish the loyal from the disloyal in the peculiarly alien and inscrutable Japanese community. The only remedy was wholesale evacuation. The same man who had said a month earlier, ``An American citizen, after all, is an American citizen,'' now announced, ``A Jap's a Jap. . . . It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen or not. . . . I don't want any of them.'' At the Justice Department several officials, including conspicuously Edward J. Ennis, director of the Alien Enemy Control Unit, as well as Biddle's assistant James H. Rowe, struggled to quell this irrationally mounting fury. Rowe denounced Lippmann and Pegler as ``Armchair Strategists and Junior G-Men'' whose reckless charges came ``close to shouting FIRE! in the theater; and if race riots occur, these writers will bear a heavy responsibility.'' Attorney General Biddle informed Secretary of War Stimson ``that the Department of Justice would not under any circumstances evacuate American citizens.'' But at a fateful meeting in the living room of the attorney general's Washington home on the evening of February 17, the gentle and scholarly Biddle buckled. Facing off against Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy and two army officers, Ennis and Rowe argued heatedly that DeWitt's request for evacuation orders should be denied. Unknown to his two subordinates, however, Biddle, new to the cabinet, unsure of his standing with Roosevelt, and overawed by the Olympian figure of Stimson, had told the secretary of war by telephone earlier in the day that he would not oppose DeWitt's recommendation. When this became clear, Rowe remembered, ``I was so mad that I could not speak. . . . Ennis almost wept.'' Even Stimson had grave misgivings. ``The second generation Japanese can only be evacuated,'' he wrote in his diary, ``either as part of a total evacuation, giving access to the areas only by permits, or by frankly trying to put them out on the ground that their racial characteristics are such that we cannot understand or even trust the citizen Japanese. This latter is the fact but I am afraid it will make a tremendous hole in our constitutional system to apply it.'' Despite his own reservations and the sputtering opposition of the Justice Department officials, Stimson advised the president that DeWitt should be authorized to proceed. The cabinet devoted only a desultory discussion to the matter. On February 19 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. It directed the War Department to ``prescribe military areas . . . from which any and all persons may be excluded.'' No explicit reference to the Japanese was necessary. When Biddle feebly objected that the order was ``ill-advised, unnecessary, and unnecessarily cruel,'' Roosevelt silenced him with the rejoinder: ``[T]his must be a military decision.'' Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 16, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Monument Act of 2007. This important legislation will expand the boundaries of the federally- recognized Minidoka Internment National Monument to include the Nidoto Nai Yoni `Let It Not Happen Again' Memorial in Bainbridge Island, Washington. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that authorized the forcible removal and relocation of Americans of Japanese ancestry from the western United States nearly 3 months after the Imperial Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor precipitated the United States' entrance into World War II. Under the authority of Executive Order 9066, on March 24, 1942, Lieutenant General John DeWitt issued Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1, forcing the removal of the 227 Japanese Americans residing on Bainbridge Island. This edict allowed Japanese Americans residing on Bainbridge Island only 6 days to sell their belongings, close their businesses, and pack up their lives before resettlement and internment in camps elsewhere in the United States. These Americans endured the additional burden and injustice of being congregated at Eagledale Ferry Dock under armed guard before transport to the mainland. Friends and neighbors converged as a symbolic gesture of unity and support for these Japanese Americans who were involuntarily removed from the community. They left behind all the belongings and possessions that they could not carry or wear. These Americans of Japanese ancestry were the first of over 100,000 Japanese Americans to be interned in remote and desolate camps. They were the first group of Japanese Americans to be stripped of their rights as American citizens under the authorities of Executive Order 9066. Today, by authorizing this historical piece of land to be within the boundaries of the Minidoka Internment National Monument, we memorialize the sacrifices Japanese Americans made during World War II. We also would acknowledge through the enactment of this legislation the occurrence of an egregious infringement of American citizenship rights. By adopting this legislation we would provide an official record of our hope and determination that an act similar to this one is never repeated in the future. This site marks the beginning of the forced exodus of an entire ethnic minority from the western United States and today we hope to transform it into a means of educating future generations of the importance of civil liberties, especially in times of war. This memorial, a short ferry boat ride from Seattle, is a fitting symbol of this disturbing [[Page 3147]] and unfortunate chapter in American history. While the internment camps themselves are located in desolate areas, far away from everyday sight and thought, this monument, in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, will serve as a continual reminder of the patriotism of Japanese Americans during the Second World War and the mistakes that we should never let happen again. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation and I commend our colleague, the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Inslee, for his sponsorship of this bill. Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 161, to adjust the boundary of the Minidoka Internment National Monument in Idaho to include the Nidoto Nai Yoni (``Let it not happen again'') memorial. This memorial commemorates the Japanese Americans of Bainbridge Island, Washington, who were the first to be forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to internment camps during World War II. In 1942, 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps--two-thirds of these were American citizens, none of which had ever shown disloyalty to the American cause. Forced to live under harsh conditions, the last internment camp closed 4 long years later. These innocent Americans were treated unjustly by their own government during a time of war, simply because of their national origin, and such a crime against them must not go unnoticed. The memorial is rightly named with the words, ``Let it not happen again,'' for it is important to remember the past mistakes of our government in an effort to avoid future ones. As we recognize this, we must strive to ensure that all Americans know about these mistakes to prevent their repetition. H.R. 161 helps accomplish this by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to coordinate the development of interpretive and educational materials and programs regarding the Bainbridge Island Japanese Americans. In times of war it may be easy to get carried away and put labels on those around us, assuming what their political ideals are based solely on their national origin or religious background. But as we have seen in World War II, such assumptions are unjust and can lead to disastrous consequences for a group of individuals. I thank my colleague, Mr. Inslee, for introducing this important legislation, to ensure that we never let such unjust practices occur in this great Nation again. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, the House unanimously passed H.R. 161, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Monument Act of 2007. This measure would provide for the preservation of a historic site on Bainbridge Island, WA, where the first Japanese Americans were assembled for internment during World War II. I thank my friend, Congressman Jay Inslee, for his heartfelt commitment and leadership in introducing this legislation and working so effectively through the years to provide for this historic site. As an original cosponsor of this legislation and supporter of past efforts, I am proud to see its passage in the House. In addition, I wish to thank the Committee on Natural Resources and especially my friend, Chairman Raul Grijalva of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands for their support and quick action. During the war hysteria in 1942, Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Roosevelt which effectively trampled on the rights of U.S. citizens by ordering the internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans. Due to the military importance of Bainbridge Island, WA, lawful Japanese American families of this community were the first to be forcibly removed from their homes and sent to internment sites. These families would not be able to return to the island for more than four years. H.R. 161 would preserve their story. H.R. 161 would enact recommendations from the National Park Service by extending the boundary of the Minidoka Internment National Monument, located in Idaho, to include the Bainbridge Island site as a satellite location. The Minidoka internment camp was the final destination until the end of the war for most of the families from Bainbridge Island. Including the Bainbridge Island site into an existing national monument would make it eligible to receive grants for funding. Mr. Speaker, I am truly grateful for the support H.R. 161 enjoyed in the House of Representatives, and I anticipate similar endorsement in the Senate. Memorializing the Bainbridge Island site will preserve the stories of injustice fallen on these innocent American families and serve as a reminder of how easily the civil rights can be discarded in guise of homeland security. Appropriately, the Bainbridge Island Memorial will be named Nidoto Nai Yoni, which translated from Japanese means ``Let It Not Happen Again.'' Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 161. The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it. Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. ____________________