Mark Takano: “I say mahalo to my colleague, Representative Case, for yielding and for organizing this Special Order hour to…”

“I say mahalo to my colleague, Representative Case, for yielding and for organizing this Special Order hour to commemorate the release of an historic stamp that honors the bravery and service of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the Go for Broke Japanese American Soldiers of World War II Forever Stamp. I am a proud Japanese American, the son of a mother and father who were young children when executive order 9066 was signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which forced them and the rest of my family out of our homes and into internment camps on American soil. Executive order 9066 labeled Japanese Americans as enemy aliens. It scapegoated an entire community of Americans and questioned their loyalty. It was misguided, it was based on lies, and it was rooted in racism and fear. During this time, 120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly imprisoned, mass-blamed for atrocities they did not commit. Their rights were trampled, their freedoms were curtailed, and their humanity was ignored. While our own government was carrying out the unthinkable against its own people, while fighting for the ideals of liberty and freedom abroad, young Japanese-American men stepped up to serve under our flag, even when our country did not want them to. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese-American men of draft age were excluded from military service. They were considered enemy aliens, unfit to serve and unfit to fight for their very own country.…”