[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9049-9050]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          IN SUPPORT OF ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

  (Mr. WU asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WU. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Asian Pacific American 
Heritage Month, and some of the things I want to talk about are 
personal and some are of a public policy nature.
  I never cease to admire the courage of my parents in bringing our 
family to this country, to a new country, a new language, a new 
culture. And interestingly enough, I have never been really able to say 
that to them in person across the kitchen table, and it's easier for me 
to say it right here on the House floor.
  There are other lessons that are important, and one of them has been 
referred to earlier, the internment of the Japanese Americans during 
World War II. It is not an old, cold, dead issue. We passed the 
Military Commissions Act just before the 2006 elections. It 
substantially restricted habeas corpus for


[[Page 9050]]


all Americans. And just as we apologize to Japanese Americans for the 
internment during World War II, someday we'll be apologizing for 
actions taken under the Military Commissions Act.
  So some of the lessons learned from the Asian Pacific American 
experience are positive ones, and others are cautionary ones that we 
should continue to remember.

                          ____________________