Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment

              July 21, 1980
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE
H62U
this kind of occurrence from ever being
repeated. The Commission will travel to
different locations hearing testimony
from those who were affected by the
evacuation and internment. I believe it
will thus contribute to heightening our
awareness as a nation that we as individual citizens must acknowledge and
understand the errors of our past, or we
will be doomed tajepeat those errors.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with
you and my colleagues the message I believe the Commission will communicate
to every citizen inour country, regardless
of race, Oate background, or religion.
That message is this: What happened in
1942 can happen again. Civil liberties
cannot be taken for granted. Our greatest hope is that the knowledge we gain
from the proposed commission will guarantee that this tragic abuse of civa and
constitutional rights will never occur
again.
I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation to create a study
commission on the evacuation and internment.
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Mr. MOORHEAD of California. Mr.
Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland  (Mr. Battman).
Mr. BATJMAN. Mr. Speaker, the remarks made earlier by the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Wright) , as usual, are
an eloquent statement of the case and
the plight that faced the Japanese-
Americans and Japanese aliens in this
country 38 years ago in 1942. At that
time I believe I was only 5 or 6 years old.
I am sure there are a great many
Americans who do not realize that President Roosevelt's action was one of the
greatest denials of civil liberties to ever
occur in peacetime or wartime in our
history. It was in fact a total destruction of the Constitution under circumstances which some might say explain
why that would happen. I think there
was no excuse for such action. It is of
course on historic fact that American
forces at Pearl Harbor on December 7,
1941, were attacked without warning by
Imperial Japanese forces at the same
time Japanese diplomats were negotiating for peace with the VS. officials here
in Washington.
Many thousands of Americans died at
the hands of Japanese. But none of that
goes to the question of the loyalty of the
Japanese-Americans and those in this
country who were treated not just shabbily, but perhaps 'in one of the worst
manners that American citizens and
those who should be protected by laws
ever have been treated.
Having issued that judgment of this
one Member, I hjive to oppose this legislation Like so many bills that come
before the House, it is well tntentioned.
It seeks to do something many would
like to do. That is assuage a wrong that
occurred in the past. But it is absolutely
ridiculous for us to, as we did a few
years ago in the case of the Hawaiian
Natives Claims Settlement Commission,
propose a million-and-a-half dollar-
commission to go back and look at history with the only apparent purpose, as
the  gentleman   from   California  just
stated, of allowing Americans to know
what might have happened, the true
facts, so that it might not happen again.
- I suggest to this body that that is not
the role of & Federal commission at the
cost of a million and a half dollars. If it
is the proper role for a Federal commission, then many other groups who have
suffered at the hands of the Government
throughout our 204-year history and
even beyond should also have their commission, their investigation, their examination of history with a report issuing
forth.        •*   / .    •      -   ..
What concerned me is something more
than that also. There was enacted into
law by the Congress of the United States,
the Japanese-American Evacuation
Claims Act. And $38 million were paid
out under that act for those Japanese
who had suffered at the hands of the
Federal Government and others. While
that law dealt with property loss, it did
not in any way compensate for the loss
of liberty. There were 26,568 claims
awarded under that act.
.Now if there axe still those who are not
compensated, they should receive help
under existing claims laws. Perhaps the
law needs to be revised, assuring access
to those claims processes, but why must
we have a commission to go back and
relieve the entire experience, looking tc-
word what? •
One of the Members of this body has
introduced legislation that would give
$15,000 to each and every one of those
Japanese ancestry or their heirs who
were interned; $15,000, plus $15 per day
''during the internment.
The Congressional Budget Office has
estimated in a separate report that this
will include 119.000 people now living,
at a cost of $4 billion—$4 billion, not
million.
Now, I think this fact should be laid
before the House, because frankly, this
commission, the bill proposes, by its
mandate, looks forward to the possibility
of some sort of payment program, and
that is what it could cost if it is to be
handled in just and equal terms. Is that
what we want to do for American Indians? Do we want to go back and do it
for Hawaiians? "-'■  '
The House voted on September 8,1978,
190 to 148 to recommit and deny the
creation of a commission for aboriginal
Hawaiians based on the wrong done to
them 90 years ago when the United
States supposedly took their land without Just compensation. Maybe the wrong
done to the Japanese-Americans is even
worse.
All I am suggesting is that these commissions and the end toward which they
proceed inexorably, because of the staff
they hire and subpena powers they are
given and money they spend, are improper. They are not the proper course
to follow. It certainly does nothing to
wipe out the wrong that was done. It
could do a great deal to set a precedent
that will do wrong in the future. I hope
when a vote is taken on this legislation,
which requires two-thirds, the bill will
be rejected.
Mr. DANIELSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield
S minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Matsui) .
(Mr. MATSUI asked and was given
permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I speak
today on behalf of HJt. 5499 and hope
that this august body will support this
bill, because I feel it is a very unique
opportunity for the U.S. Congress and
the people of this country to study and
look into the causes of what happened in
1942.
The gentleman from Maryland (Mr.
Battman) spoke very eloquently a few
moments ago about his position on this
particular bill. I might speak from the
perspective of an Individual and not so
much as a Member of Congress. I hap- I
pened to be 6 months old when the internment camp order came down from
President Roosevelt.
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My mother and my father and myself, along with my grandmother who
had been here for 60 years, were shipped
to first Tulelake, and then Idaho. We
spent my first 4& years in those camps
and from what my mother and father
are willing to tell me about it, it was not
the kind of experience that I would wish
on any person, not only in this country,
but in the entire world.
The gentleman from Maryland (Mr.
Battman) mentions the fact that there
is very little, relevance for the U.S. Congress to be involved in this issue. I would
have to disagree with the gentleman.
There are stni people in this country
who say that the internment of Japanese-Americans some ZS years ago was
understandable. Some even say that it
was justified.
I think that it is only proper for an
objective body like this Congress to set
up a commission of objective men and
women to look into why this happened,
what were the circumstances around it
and how can we make sure that in the
next 200 years it will not happen again?
For that reason, I think it is very important that the people of this body support this particular piece of legislation.
I might also mention one other thing,
although it is not germane to this particular piece of legislation. The gentleman from Maryland <Mr. Battman)
speaks of the $38 million that in the
1950s was given to Japanese-Americans
who happened to spend time in these
relocation centers. I must say, my
mother and father submitted a claim
and they received about $380 back from
the Federal Government. They were
very thankful for that. We are not saying it was a bad act for the Government
to do; but I might add, that was only
10 cents on the dollar. It was only 10
percent of their provable claims; but
in spite of that, this bill does not ask
for any money. It just asks that a commission be set up to loosTinto this matter
to see what the causes were and what
remedies should be given, if any.
The gentleman from Maryland (Mr.
Battman) and you and I and all of us
will have an opportunity to vote on
remedies if the Commission should at
some future dates say that remedies are
proper and desirable. We can turn it
down if we find that it is proper and desirable to turn it down.