Robert Torricelli: “on October 19, 2000, more than 50 years after the end of World War II, Congress passed the Wartime Violation of Italian…”

“on October 19, 2000, more than 50 years after the end of World War II, Congress passed the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act. I am pleased to have been the Senate sponsor of that bill which directed the U.S. Department of Justice to study the treatment of Italian-Americans at the hand of the Federal Government during the War and to deliver a report on its findings to the Congress. This report has now been completed. The 42-page report, prepared by the Department's Civil Rights Division concludes: ``After the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, citizens and aliens of Italian-American descent were subjected to restrictions, including curfews, searches, confiscations of property, the loss of livelihood, and internment.'' While the report can obviously not undo the injustices suffered by Italian Americans in the past, it is important that mistakes of the past be understood and acknowledged so that they are not repeated. This report will finally shine light on a largely unknown era of this nation's history--the injustices perpetrated by our government against thousands of Americans of Italian descent during the war.”