Sunday,
November 19, 2006
WWII Internment Camps to be Historic Parks
The
ANNOTICO Report
There
were 600,000 Italian Americans, 300,000 German Americans and 120,000 Japanese
Americans who were required to Register during
WWII as "Enemy Aliens" even though some were US Citizens,
In
doing so there were a great number of Restrictions that were placed on where
they could live, what hours they could be out in public, which jobs they could
work at, what property they could own, etc.
U.S.
Sen. Daniel Inouye states that the legislation "will enable not only
Japanese Americans, the largest group that was wrongly detained, but also
interned Italian Americans and German Americans to share their
stories of courage, perseverance and quiet determination. By preserving
internment sites, we will learn from history and reaffirm our shared national
commitment of equal justice for all."
Excuse
my skepticism, but up until today, for sixty years, there has been scant recognition
by Japanese Americans of the
"injustices" against Italian Americans, and German Americans.
Their ignoring of those travesties have been so
strong, that they often labeled the "Restrictions" as Racist,
claiming that they were committed only against the "Asian" Japanese.
If
their intentions are "pure", these Internment Parks would tell the
Entire story of ALLRestrictions, not merely Internment..
By
Mary Adamski
Saturday, November 18, 2006
A bill that would
preserve World War II internment camp sites as historic parks has been approved
by the U.S. Senate.
The move came
Thursday a year after the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation to
fund restoration of some sites where Japanese Americans were unconstitutionally
confined behind barbed wire soon after
A former camp
site in Honouliuli in
The Senate
measure must return to the House for approval because it amended language in
the original bill introduced by Rep.
Inouye's bill
provided for the
The National Park
Service opened a national historical museum two years ago at the location of Manzanar camp in the Sierra mountains
northeast of
The National Park
Service testified against the Senate bill at an April hearing because of
funding problems, not on the merits of the bill, according to a statement
released by Gerald Yamada, national coordinator of the Washington, D.C.-based
Japanese American National Heritage Coalition.
"Since the
National Park Service testified in opposition to this legislation at both the
House and Senate hearings, we can't assume the president will sign HR 1492 into
law," Yamada said in the written release.
Altogether,
120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were detained during the war, as were
some resident aliens from
Inouye said the
legislation "will enable not only Japanese Americans, the largest group
that was wrongly imprisoned, but also interned German Americans and Italian Americans
to share their stories of courage, perseverance and quiet determination. By
preserving internment sites, we will learn from history and reaffirm our shared
national commitment of equal justice for all."
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