WHEREAS, On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced assembly,
evacuation, and internment of approximately 12,000 Japanese-Americans
residing in the state of Washington; and
WHEREAS, The order for assembly and detention at Camp Harmony in
Puyallup, Washington, prior to evacuation and subsequent internment,
caused Japanese-Americans from the state of Washington to lose millions
of dollars in property and assets, to suffer immeasurable physical and
psychological damage, and to be deprived of their constitutional
liberties without due process of law; and
WHEREAS, The alleged purpose of this drastic course of action was
to prevent Japanese-Americans, all of whom were deemed disloyal and
untrustworthy, from committing acts of espionage and sabotage against
the United States during its involvement in World War II; and
WHEREAS, An overwhelming number of Japanese-Americans from the
state of Washington responded to questions of their loyalty and
patriotism by volunteering from within barbed wire camps to serve in
the United States Military Intelligence Service and the United States
Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the latter of which became the
most decorated unit of its size in American history with 7 Presidential
Unit Citations, 21 Congressional Medals of Honor, 52 Distinguished
Service Crosses, 1 Distinguished Service Medal, 588 Silver Stars, 4,000
Bronze Stars, 9,486 Purple Hearts, and a total of 18 decorations from
France and Italy; and
WHEREAS, A few equally patriotic Japanese-Americans such as Fred
Korematsu, Minoru Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi, who was then a student
at the University of Washington, were willing to face imprisonment to
seek justice by challenging the constitutionality of the evacuation and
internment orders; and
WHEREAS, Through the fact-finding work of the Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of Civilians, the United States Congress
later found that "there was no military or security reason for the
internment" of individuals of Japanese ancestry and that the internment
"was caused by racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of
political leadership"; and
WHEREAS, On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed H.R.
442, the Civil Liberties Act, which recognized the injustice of the
relocation and internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry;
and
WHEREAS, Japanese-American internees from the state of Washington
endured economic, physical, and psychological hardship and suffered in
silence for more than forty years before the state of Washington issued
a formal apology for the unjust treatment of municipal and state
employees who were summarily dismissed without cause during the war;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives,
along with the people of Washington, pause to acknowledge the sixty-ninth anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, to recognize
the Japanese-American internees and WWII veterans from the state of
Washington, to honor their patience, heroism, sacrifice, and patriotic
loyalty, and to remember the lessons and blessings of liberty and
justice for all; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be
immediately transmitted by the Chief Clerk of the House of
Representatives to the Nisei Veterans Committee, the Military
Intelligence Service - Northwest Association, the Japanese-American
Citizens League, the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington
State, and the Wing Luke Asian Museum.