AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
It's interesting that they're funding the preservation of TEN of these camps. But then, they could prove useful for a variety of medical emergencies.....
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/16171653.htm
ERICA WERNER
Associated Press
<!-- begin body-content -->WASHINGTON - Notorious internment camps where Japanese-Americans were kept behind barbed wire during World War II will be preserved as stark reminders of how the United States turned on some of its citizens in a time of fear.
As one of its last acts, the Republican-led Congress on Tuesday sent President Bush legislation establishing a $38 million program of National Park Service grants to restore and pay for research at 10 camps where the government sent people of Japanese descent after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On another issue, ............
In other action as Congress moved toward adjourning for the year by week's end:........
_........
_The Senate passed a bill to create a new agency within the Health and Human Services Department to oversee the development of medicine and equipment to respond to a bird flu pandemic or a bioterrorism attack._.........
As for the Japanese-American internment sites, the National Park Service already operates facilities at two of the 10: the Manzanar National Historic Site in California and the Minidoka Internment National Monument in Idaho. The money in the bill the House passed Tuesday on a voice vote and sent to Bush would go to them and eight others, to be operated by state and local governments or organizations.
The Senate passed the bill last month. The Park Service says the program is too expensive, but the White House has not signaled opposition to it.
"Preserving these internment sites is a solemn task we all bear," said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., who was born in the Potson camp in Arizona in 1944. "Those who come after us will have a physical reminder of what they will never allow to happen again."
The camps housed more than 120,000 Japanese-American U.S. citizens and residents under an executive order signed by President Roosevelt in 1942. At the time there were fears that Japanese-Americans were loyal to Japan, and Roosevelt's order prohibited such people from living on the West Coast.
Thousands of families in California and parts of Washington, Oregon and Arizona were pushed from their homes and into camps surrounded by armed guards. The sites named in the legislation are in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.
The last of the camps closed in 1946, and President Reagan signed a presidential apology in 1988.
"The understanding of this period in our history is essential. It has to do with fundamental rights even of native-born citizens in time of war," said House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.
Another co-sponsor was Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., the only current member of Congress other than Matsui to spend time as a child in one of the camps. Former Transportation Secretary and Rep. Norman Mineta and Matsui's late husband Robert, a former congressman, also lived in the camps.
The bill would give grants to nonfederal organizations for historical, research and restoration work at the sites named in the legislation, as well as others selected by the Interior secretary. The grants would require 50 percent in matching funds.
........---
The Japanese internment bill is HR 1492.
.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/16171653.htm
ERICA WERNER
Associated Press
<!-- begin body-content -->WASHINGTON - Notorious internment camps where Japanese-Americans were kept behind barbed wire during World War II will be preserved as stark reminders of how the United States turned on some of its citizens in a time of fear.
As one of its last acts, the Republican-led Congress on Tuesday sent President Bush legislation establishing a $38 million program of National Park Service grants to restore and pay for research at 10 camps where the government sent people of Japanese descent after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On another issue, ............
In other action as Congress moved toward adjourning for the year by week's end:........
_........
_The Senate passed a bill to create a new agency within the Health and Human Services Department to oversee the development of medicine and equipment to respond to a bird flu pandemic or a bioterrorism attack._.........
As for the Japanese-American internment sites, the National Park Service already operates facilities at two of the 10: the Manzanar National Historic Site in California and the Minidoka Internment National Monument in Idaho. The money in the bill the House passed Tuesday on a voice vote and sent to Bush would go to them and eight others, to be operated by state and local governments or organizations.
The Senate passed the bill last month. The Park Service says the program is too expensive, but the White House has not signaled opposition to it.
"Preserving these internment sites is a solemn task we all bear," said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., who was born in the Potson camp in Arizona in 1944. "Those who come after us will have a physical reminder of what they will never allow to happen again."
The camps housed more than 120,000 Japanese-American U.S. citizens and residents under an executive order signed by President Roosevelt in 1942. At the time there were fears that Japanese-Americans were loyal to Japan, and Roosevelt's order prohibited such people from living on the West Coast.
Thousands of families in California and parts of Washington, Oregon and Arizona were pushed from their homes and into camps surrounded by armed guards. The sites named in the legislation are in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.
The last of the camps closed in 1946, and President Reagan signed a presidential apology in 1988.
"The understanding of this period in our history is essential. It has to do with fundamental rights even of native-born citizens in time of war," said House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.
Another co-sponsor was Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., the only current member of Congress other than Matsui to spend time as a child in one of the camps. Former Transportation Secretary and Rep. Norman Mineta and Matsui's late husband Robert, a former congressman, also lived in the camps.
The bill would give grants to nonfederal organizations for historical, research and restoration work at the sites named in the legislation, as well as others selected by the Interior secretary. The grants would require 50 percent in matching funds.
........---
The Japanese internment bill is HR 1492.
.
As long as the net result is real progress (like yesterday!) I'll be happy. They need to build adequate VAX plants ASAP!