[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18501]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    JAPANESE INTERNMENT AND REFUGEES

  (Mr. TAKANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, 70 years ago my parents and grandparents 
were stripped of their possessions and placed in Japanese American 
internment camps. They were not guilty of espionage. They did not 
commit treason. They simply looked like our enemy, and that cost my 
family their freedom.
  Yesterday the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, suggested that this 
country's treatment of Japanese Americans during the 1940s is a model 
for how we should address today's global refugee crisis.
  It does not take courage to condemn such disgraceful comments, nor 
does it take wisdom to say our World War II policies were a product of 
fear and hysteria.
  What takes wisdom is recognizing that history is now repeating 
itself. What takes courage is sending a message to the world that 
America will protect innocent people regardless of their nationality or 
religion.
  That is what my mother and father deserved 70 years ago, and that is 
what these refugees deserve today.

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