Japanese Latin American Commission Bill Passes House Judiciary Committee
October 22, 2009 2 Comments
The following is a press release from Campaign For Justice – Los Angeles.
LOS ANGELES — On October 21, a bipartisan majority of members of the House Judiciary Committee voted to favorably report the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Latin Americans of Japanese Descent Act (H.R. 42). Now that the legislation passed the full Committee, it is ready for passage in the House of Representatives.
“I commend chairman John Conyers and the members of the Judiciary Committee for recognizing the importance and timeliness of this legislation,” said Christine Oh, Legislative Director of Campaign For Justice. “Yesterday’s result is a testament to the fact that our national leaders and representatives are moving this country in the right direction. I urge the leadership of the House of Representatives to expedite the bill to floor vote while there are former internees still left to tell their stories.”
If passed by House of Representatives and Senate and signed into law, the JLA Commission bill would establish a commission to investigate and determine the facts surrounding the wartime deportation, internment and relocation of Latin Americans of Japanese descent by the U.S. government and recommend any appropriate remedies based on its findings.
Former internees, their families, and members of the campaign are extremely grateful to our friends and supporters for their encouragement and partnership on this very timely and important bill. We ask that our supporters spread the word to their contacts to push for passage of the bill in the House of Representatives.
The House Judiciary Committee also favorably reported H.R. 1425, the “Wartime Treatment Act,” which would establish two fact-finding commissions, one to study the internments and restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on certain European Americans and European Latin Americans during World War II, and the other to study government policies limiting the ability of Jewish refugees to come to the United States before and during the war.
For more information, please contact Christine Oh, CFJ Legislative Director, at (213) 500-9346 or info@campaignforjusticejla.org. Visit the CFJ website at http://www.campaignforjusticejla.org.
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It is very unfortunate that this country was not fair in times of war, but that generation, as a country, did what was needed in order to become who we are today. With the state of our economy in dire need of help, one’s intent to establish fact finding commissions which would have no immediate benefit to the country as a whole is ill timed. I for one am against the passing of this bill.
The historical record has shown that “that generation” imprisoned Japanese Americans during World War II in American concentration camps because of “…racism, wartime hysteria and a failure of political leadership…” (many would add economic greed), not on any justifiable reasons.
Moreover, justice and civil rights are not things that can be pushed aside just because the results might not fit into today’s economic realities. That would be the same as saying that the Constitution of the United States can be ignored when it isn’t convenient to follow it. That’s not how our system of justice is supposed to work. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land and must be followed at all times. It is also said that justice is timeless.
As such, it’s quite clear that your opposition to this legislation is based on entirely faulty reasoning.