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TITLE Drawing of committee listening to testimony DESCRIPTION Drawing of committee listening to testimony "As Ernest K. Wakayama, 86 years old, energetically gave testimony... / I thought how much he resembles my Father. / As Mr. Wakayama spoke about how meaningless his United States Army honorable discharge from World War I was... / -- I recalled how proud my Father was to finally be allowed to get his United States citizenship in 1952. / -- My Father was and still is so happy each year to vote...." CONTEXT "In response to the advocacy for redress by a broad spectrum of the Japanese American community, Congress created the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to review and analyze the official government contention, historically accepted, that the exclusion, forced removal, and detention of Americans of Japanese ancestry were justified by military necessity. The Commission was charged with issuing a report to Congress and with making appropriate recommendations based on its findings.... The CWRIC Commissioners held twenty days of public hearings from July to December of 1981, in ten locations, mainly on the East and West Coasts. They heard testimony from over 750 witnesses, most of whom were formerly incarcerated Japanese Americans and Aleuts or Pribilof Islanders, but who included as well former internees brought up from Peru, noted scholars, and a few apologists of the incarceration or internment experience [including Col. Karl Bendetsen and Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy]." Personal Justice Denied CREDIT Courtesy of Michiko Kuwahara DATE November 1981 |
