SENATE RESOLUTION

                         1992-8724

By Senators Gaspard, Hayner, von Reichbauer, Rasmussen, Roach, McCaslin, McMullen, Bauer, Craswell, Bluechel, Pelz, McDonald, West, Sumner, Sellar, Williams, Murray, Thorsness, Talmadge, W. Hansen, Conner, Bailey, Snyder, Amondson, Anderson, Erwin, Madsen, Moore, Nelson, Niemi, Oke, Patterson, Rinehart, A. Smith, Stratton, Wojahn and Jesernig

     WHEREAS, February 19, 1992, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of federal Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt; and

     WHEREAS, The promulgation of Executive Order 9066 and Public Law 77-503 resulted in the exclusion and forced detention of more than one hundred ten thousand Japanese Americans, most of whom were American citizens, in ten relocation centers; and

     WHEREAS, This legislature has previously recognized in chapter 15, Laws of 1983 1st ex. sess. and chapter 41.68 RCW that the promulgation of federal Executive Order 9066 was based mainly on fear and suspicion rather than factual justification; and

     WHEREAS, The United States Government recognized that the World War II exclusion and detention of Japanese Americans was based on war hysteria when it enacted legislation providing monetary redress to excluded and detained Japanese Americans in 1988; and

     WHEREAS, It is proper to commemorate this fiftieth anniversary of the signing of federal Executive Order 9066 to ensure that the mistakes of the past are never again repeated;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the State of Washington, that February 19, 1992, is declared to be a Day of Remembrance, so that the people of the state of Washington will remember the exclusion and detention of Japanese Americans during World War II, and be ever vigilant in protecting against the loss of our hard-earned constitutional rights; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the Japanese American Citizens League.

I, Gordon A. Golob, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution 1992-8724,

adopted by the Senate February 19, 1992.

GORDON A. GOLOB

Secretary of the Senate