Doris Matsui: “I rise today because history is not just being forgotten, it is being erased. In 1942, President Roosevelt signed…”

“I rise today because history is not just being forgotten, it is being erased. In 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, approving the removal of American citizens of Japanese descent to remote camps. My parents and grandparents were among the 120,000 forced to leave their homes and their businesses. They were sent by their own government, our government, to a camp in Poston, Arizona. They lived in appalling conditions, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, solely because of who they were. I was born in that internment camp, and that history lives with me every day. It drives me to fight for my neighbors, for their rights, for their dignity because that injustice didn't begin with barbed wire and armed soldiers. It began with fear, with racist, incendiary rhetoric, and with leaders who decided unjustly to single out an entire community as a threat. That is why the National Park Service's decision to remove references to the incarceration of Japanese Americans, along with other hard truths about our history, is not benign. It is deeply reckless. History is not just something we remember. It is something that teaches. When we strip away the truth, we strip away all the warnings that go along with it. In fact, during World War II, Fort Bliss in Texas was used as a detention center for Japanese Americans. Today, you don't see a sign. You see another active detention center.”