Summary

THE HOUSE DEBATES THE ISSUE OF REPARATIONS TO JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 330295
Story Slug HOUSE ON REPARATIONS TO JAPANESE AMERICANS (1988)
Location WASHINGTON, DC
Format TVD
Date 08/04/1988
Archive Time 4:14
TRT 3:24
Supers REP ROBERT MATSUI D- CA REP HELEN DELICH BENTLEY R- MD REP NORMAN MINETA D- CA
Video Description WIDE OF HOUSE FLOOR, MATSUI SOT, BENTLEY SOT, MINETA SOT
Description THE HOUSE DEBATES THE ISSUE OF REPARATIONS TO JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Script (SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) Mike Masaoka was born in Salt Lake City, Utah He had five brothers, and he and his family were interned during World War Two, although they were American citizens, when they were in the internment camps, they decided that they needed to prove their loyalty to their country, and so all the brothers volunteered for the 4/42 combat troop to fight in the European front on behalf of the United States government, while their sisters, mother and father and other relatives were incarcerated by their own government Ben Masaoka was killed in action Todd Masaoka was severely wounded Ike Masaoka was completely disabled The others survived They received numerous medals from the federal government general North Carolina Last night, when I arrived home, my husband, who served in the Army during the Korean War, came into the kitchen shaking his head and muttering, if you want a fast divorce, you vote for that outrageous expenditure for our money He said, I wasn't quite certain what he was talking about, and so I asked him, he responded that he'd been watching C span and had heard the floor debate read the reparations to the people who had been incarcerated by our government during World War Two That was wartime He shouted, and we did not start the war If anyone should get anything, it should be the US prisoners of war who face death and cruel treatment My veteran husband, like all the veterans of my district, oppose this legislation, as do I think, does our constitution indeed protect all of us, regardless of race or culture? Do our rights remain inalienable, even in times of stress, and especially in times of stress, and the passage of this legislation answers these questions with a resounding yes, and after many years of prayer, struggle and dreams, now the 100th Congress takes its final action on HR 442, I am deeply honored to serve in this body as it takes the brave step of admitting and redressing a monumental injustice I am proud to serve with people like my colleague from California, Mr Matsui, Mr Lowry, who was the original author of the redress bill, and today, we again say yes to justice, and I urge my colleagues to ratify this conference report and send this on to the President for his signature Thank you very, very much
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Keywords

WORLD WAR TWO
WWII
WW2
JAPANESE INTERMENT
INTERMENT CAMPS
JAPANESE AMERICANS
REPARATIONS
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