Minnesota Session Laws - 1984, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1984 

                       RESOLUTION 15-S.F.No. 751 
 A resolution memorializing the Commission on Wartime 
Relocation and Internment of Civilians to recommend to 
the United States Congress to provide adequate 
compensation to internees. 
    WHEREAS, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. 
Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the 
uprooting and imprisonment of all persons of Japanese ancestry 
on the Pacific Coast; and 
    WHEREAS, in the spring of 1942, exactly 120,313 persons of 
Japanese ancestry, most of whom were American citizens, were 
forcibly evicted from their West Coast homes and subsequently 
incarcerated in what amounted to concentration camps; and 
    WHEREAS, not a single charge of wrongdoing was ever filed 
against any Japanese American residing in the United States 
during World War II; and 
    WHEREAS, American citizens of Japanese ancestry and their 
alien parents, who were legal permanent residents, were never 
allowed the basic constitutional right of the benefit of a 
hearing or trial; and 
    WHEREAS, in addition to the $400 million in property losses 
estimated by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in 1942, 
there were immeasurable damages suffered, such as the loss of 
individual freedom, the destruction of personal human dignity, 
the loss of income and disruption of careers, and psychological 
trauma of having been innocent victims imprisoned for three and 
a half years; and 
    WHEREAS, Japanese Americans volunteered from within barbed 
wire camps to join the armed forces and demonstrated exemplary 
heroism, courage, and patriotic loyalty as evidenced by the fact 
the one unit became the most highly decorated unit in World War 
II for its size and length of service; and 
    WHEREAS, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and 
Internment of Civilians established on July 31, 1980, conducted 
an inquiry and reported its findings on February 24, 1983, that 
the internment camps for Japanese Americans were unnecessary and 
unjustified; NOW, THEREFORE, 
    BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
that it commends the Commission on Wartime Relocation and 
Internment of Civilians its official investigation of the event 
leading to the issuance of Executive Order 9066 and its 
consequence upon American citizens and permanent legal residents 
of Japanese ancestry. 
    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it urges the Commission on 
Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to recommend to 
Congress of the United States, that an adequate form of monetary 
redress be awarded to those individuals who suffered the 
injustices and hardships resulting from the government's actions 
in 1942. 
    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State is 
directed to prepare a certified copy of this memorial and 
present it to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and 
Internment of Civilians, the President and Secretary of the 
United States Senate, the Speaker and Chief Clerk of the United 
States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and 
Representatives in Congress. 
    Approved April 25, 1984