LILLIAN BAKER SPEAKING FOR AMERICANS FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY [AFHA] BEFORE THE COMMISSION ON WARTIME RELOCATION - WASH., D.C. 7-16-81

MS. BERNSTEIN AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION:

THE MAN WHO SITS IN THE OVAL OFFICE TOLD ME DURING A TELEPHONE CONVERSATION THAT I HAVE "EDUCATED HIM" ON THE SUBJECT NOW UNDER DISCUSSION, AND THAT HE NOW HAS MORE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE ISSUES AT HAND.

IF MY INTENSIVE RESEARCH CAN EDUCATE A PRESIDENT, THERE SURELY IS HOPE THAT THIS COMMISSION AND THOSE IN ATTENDANCE AT THESE SESSIONS, CAN BE ENLIGHTENED AS WELL.

SOME SENTIMENTS OF THOSE SERVING ON THIS COMMISSION HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED PREVIOUS TO THIS HEARING, IN THE ETHNIC PRES, AND THE MAJORITY OF THOSE IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE WHO VOTED TO SPONSOR AND APPROPRIATE THE $1.5 MILLION TAX DOLLARS TO "STUDY ANY WRONGS" OF OUR GOVERNMENT, CANNOT BE FAULTED IF THEIR OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS HAVE BEEN BASED ON BOOKS BOGGLED DOWN WITH HISTORICAL INACCURACIES. AFTER ALL, IT WASN'T UNTIL THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, THAT PREVIOUSLY CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS WERE RELEASED AS RECLASSIFIED OR DECLASSIFIED, TO AUTHORS AND HISTORIANS -- DOCUMENTS WHICH CLARIFY THIS MOST MISUNDERSTOOD AND PROPAGANDIZED ACTION OF WORLD WAR II.

SOFT-HEARTED AMERICANS WILL BUY ANYTHING, INCLUDING THE "BIG LIE". AND LIKE OTHER PRODUCTS OF HINDSIGHT HISTORIANS, EACH YEAR THE STORY'S "NEW AND IMPROVED". EACH BUYER REACHES FOR ACLU AND JACL PUBLICATIONS, WHICH ARE NOTHING MORE THAN RE-STATEMENTS OF BRIEFS REJECTED BY OUR SUPREME COURT. YET THESE BRIEFS HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED IN OUR "ACADEMIC SOCIETY". THE ACLU AND THE JACL LOST IN THE COURTS BUT HAVE, THUS FAR, WON IN THE FORUM. THE FORUMS AT UNIVERSITIES, WHERE HINDSIGHT HISTORIANS, SAFE IN THEIR INTELLECTUAL TOWERS, WHIP UP ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT AMONG IMPRESSIONABLE STUDENTS.

THESE ARE OF THE ILK OF "HISTORIANS" WHO, AS NORMAN CORWIN WROTE IN HIS EPIC "ON A NOTE OF TRIUMPH", TOOK COMFORT IN "THE SAFETY OF PINS ON MAPS" THAT OUR FORCES HAD COME THROUGH. AND IT WAS CORWIN WHO PROPHETICALLY AND PROPERLY ASKED: "HAVE YOU PAID PART OF THE COST? SHALL THE BALANCE SHEET BE BALANCED? BY WHOM? HOW? DID ONLY THOSE OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY PAY THE COSTS OF WAR?

A JUDGE IN PARIS, FRANCE, RECENTLY AWARDED REPARATIONS TO INJURED PARTIES OF THE JEWISH FAITH, BECAUSE SOMEONE IMPLIED THAT THERE WAS NO HISTORICAL TRUTH TO THE NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS.

NOW HERE'S A PRECEDENT TO PONDER! A PRECEDENT JUSTIFYING A CLASS-ACTION SUIT ON BEHALF OF AMERICANS FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY AGAINST SUCH PERSONS AND ORGANIZATION WHO HAVE IMPLIED THAT AMERICA'S WARTIME RELOCATION CENTERS WERE "CONCENTRATION CAMPS". THIS, EVEN AFTER OUR SUPREME COURT ADMONISHED THE ACLU AND JACL, IN THE LANDMARK KOREMATSU DECISION: "...WE DEEM IT UNJUSTIFIABLE TO CALL THEM CONCENTRATION CAMPS WITH ALL THE UGLY CONNOTATIONS THAT TERM IMPLIES".

THAT TERM, REJECTED BY OUR SUPREME COURT, WHICH HAS THE FINAL LEGAL DETERMINATION OF WHAT IS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE, THAT INSIDIOUS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED AND HIGHLY PROPAGANDISTIC TERM "CONCENTRATION CAMP", HAS BEEN INTRODUCED AS "ACCEPTABLE" BY THESE AUTHORS, LAWYERS, AND HISTORIANS WHO WOULD RATHER DEAL WITH EMOTION THAN WITH DOCUMENT FACTS. TO DO OTHERWISE WOULD REQUIRE WORK; TO DO OTHERWISE WOULD CALL A LIE TO THEIR PREVIOUS STATEMENTS. IT'S MUCH EASIER FOR THEM TO RESORT TO "HISTORY-WEARY VALLEYS" OF BOOKSHELVES STACKED WITH VOLUMES WHOSE REFRAINS ARE LIKENED TO A BROKEN RECORD, CRACKED BY RHETORIC.

OUR SUPREME COURT ALSO STATED THAT NO EVACUEE "EITHER IN FACT OR BY LAW", HAD TO GO FROM AN ASSEMBLY CENTER TO A RELOCATION CENTER, AND MANY THOUSANDS DID NOT BUT RELOCATED AWAY FROM THE "RED ZONE" OF OUR ENDANGERED WEST COAST.

THE LAWYERS WHO KNOW ALL THE LEGAL JARGON, AND THE POLITICIANS [WHO IN THEIR EAGERNESS TO NET EACH POSSIBLE VOTE], CAN TELL ANYONE THE COST OF POLITICS BUT KNOW NOT THE VALUE OF PATRIOTISM. ELSE WHY A COMMISSION TO "STUDY ANY WRONGS"? WHY NOT A COMMISSION TO EDUCATED THE PUBLIC AND THE WORLD ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF OUR WARTIME ACTION, THUS ERASING THE FALSE NOTION THAT OUR WWII EVACUATION WAS "THE MOST SHAMEFUL EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY"!

WE HAVE HERE A TEAM LED BY A MAN WHO CLAIMS HIS RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED UNDER OUR FIRST AMENDMENT. THEY WERE NOT! REDRESS WAS GRANTED HIM IN OUR COURTS WHICH WERE STILL WORKING EVEN AS OUR COUNTRY FOUGHT TO PRESERVE THAT RIGHT OF REDRESS. REPRESENTED BY

THE JACL & ACLU, HE HAD HIS MOMENT OF REDRESS ALL THE WAY UP TO OUR SUPREME COURT. IN HIS CASE, BY UNANIMOUS VOTE, THE SUPREME COURT UPHELD CURFEW IN WARTIME FOR "PUBLIC SAFETY". HAD HE VIOLATED CURFEW LAWS IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY AT WAR, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOT! BUT WE WERE AND ARE A COUNTRY OF LAWS AND COMPASSION.

SURELY THE LAWYERS HAVE STUDIED PUBLIC LAW NO. 886 [EVACUATION CLAIMS STATUTE], JULY 2, 1948, AND KNOW THAT THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAS RUN OUT ON REPARATIONS. THIS LAW STATES: "THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SHALL RECEIVE CLAIMS FOR A PERIOD OF EIGHTEEN MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF ENACTMENT OF THIS ACT" AND THAT "ALL CLAIMS NOT PRESENTED WITHIN THAT TIME SHALL BE FOREVER BARRED ON THIS SUBJECT."

THE CLAIMS SETTLED INCLUDED REPARATIONS FOR "PERSONAL INJURY, PERSONAL INCONVENIENCE, PHYSICAL HARDSHIP, OR MENTAL SUFFERING"... AND SETTLEMENT WAS FINAL AND CONCLUSIVE "FOR ALL PURPOSES" AND "ON THIS SUBJECT." THUS THE ISSUE OF "TRAUMA" HAS BEEN SETTLED BY EXISTING PUBLIC LAW, "FOR ALL TIME".

THUS, THE MATTER OF "REDRESS," TOO, CAN BE ASIDE SINCE IT HAD NOT BEEN DENIED DESPITE ALLEGATIONS TO THE CONTRARY.

BUT WE SHOULD NOT BE AS CONCERNED WITH THE DREAMS OF FOUR BILLION DOLLARS IN UNEARNED AND UNJUSTIFIED REPARATIONS BY A GROUP WHICH BY AND LARGE, WEREN'T EVEN BORN DURING WWII; RATHER IT IS TO CONSIDER THE LOSS OF THAT TIME-HONORED CULTURE OF JAPANESE HONOR. BUT TO HAVE THAT KIND OF HONOR, REQUIRES A SENSE OF SHAME.

THE ACTIONS OF THIS GROUP WHO THE HONORABLE SENATOR S.I. HAYAKAWA CALLED "A YOUNG WOLF-PACK OF JAPANESE-AMERICAN DISSIDENTS WHO WEREN'T EVEN BORN DURING WWII", IS, INDEED, SHAMELESS.

PERHAPS IT'S A BLESSING THAT MOST HEROIC ISSEI, [WHO ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED THE WARTIME DILEMMA], ARE DECEASED AND THEREFORE CANNOT WITNESS THE DISHONOR AND DISMANTLING OF THEIR WORK AND DREAMS FOR A BETTER FUTURE FOR AMERICANS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY. THIS IS

THE PITIFUL PART OF THE TRAGEDY AND TRAVESTY ACTED OUT HERE TODAY.

IF THE BENEFIT OF MY YEARS OF RESEARCH INTO ARCHIVES [NEVER TOUCHED BY ANOTHER AUTHOR-HISTORIAN], TEACHES NOTHING ELSE, LEARN THESE FACTS BASED ON DOCUMENTATION AND NOT EMOTION:

THERE WERE FOUR WARTIME FACILITIES ESTABLISHED BY OUR GOVERNMENT DURING WWII. NONE WOULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED IN THE TIME OF PEACE!

DEC. 7, 1941: INTERNMENT CAMPS FOR GERMAN, ITALIAN, AND JAPANESE ALIENS ONLY, ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. NO AMERICANS WERE "INTERNED" IN THE INTERNMENT CAMPS FOR ENEMY ALIENS. I THERE WERE THOSE OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY WHO CHOSE TO JOIN TOGETHER AS A FAMILY; A PRIVILEGE NOT EXTENDED GERMANS OR ITALIANS OR OTHER ENEMY ALIENS IN THE INTERNMENT CAMPS.

PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS, [POW], WERE ADMINISTERED BY THE MILITARY.

MARCH 21, 1942, E.O. 9102 ESTABLISHED THE WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY, COMPLETELY UNDER CIVILIAN CONTROL, WITH SELF-GOVERNING EVACUEES SERVING AS "WARDENS". [E.O. 9066, DATED FEB. 19, 1942, THE EXCLUSION ORDER UPHELD BY OUR SUPREME COURT, AFFECTED ITALIAN, GERMAN, AND JAPANESE ALIENS ONLY. THE WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY DIDN'T EVEN EXIST ON FEBRUARY 19, 1942!]

THE FOURTH DESIGNATED FACILITY WAS THE SEGREGATION CENTER AT TULE LAKE, FORMERLY ONE OF THE TEN WARTIME RELOCATION CENTERS. FORMERLY UNDER CIVILIAN CONTROL, IT WAS TRANSFERRED TO MILITARY JURISDICTION IN 1943. INTO THIS SEGREGATION CENTER, CAME BOTH CITIZEN AND ALIEN EVACUEES FROM THE OTHER NINE WRA CENTERS, THOSE WHO WERE CONSIDERED "TROUBLEMAKERS", OR PRO-JAPAN. TULE LAKE SEGREGATION CENTER ALSO INCLUDED THE INNOCENT FAMILIES OF THOSE PRO-JAPAN CULPRITS WHO MADE THEIR WARTIME CHOICE OF LOYALTY TO JAPAN, AND WHO HAVE PASSED ON A "COLLECTIVE GUILT" TO THEIR DESCENDANTS.

IN THE LANDMARK KOREMATSU DECISION, IT CLEARLY STATED: "THAT THERE WERE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP WHO RETAINED LOYALTIES TO JAPAN HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY INVESTIGATIONS MADE SUBSEQUENT TO THE EXCLUSION. APPROXIMATELY FIVE THOUSAND AMERICAN CITIZENS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY REFUSED TO SWEAR UNQUALIFIED ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED STATES AND TO RENOUNCE ALLEGIANCE TO THE JAPANESE EMPEROR, AND SEVERAL THOUSAND EVACUEES REQUESTED REPATRIATION TO JAPAN."

IF THE EVACUATION AND EXCLUSION ORDER ON THE WEST COAST WAS A RACIST ACT, THEN WHY WEREN'T PERSONS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY FORCED TO ALSO LEAVE THE EAST COAST? WHY WEREN'T GERMANS AND ITALIANS AFFECTED? GERMAN AND ITALIAN ALIENS WERE EQUALLY AFFECTED BY E.O. 9066; HOWEVER, SIMPLY STATED, THE UNITED STATES WAS EXPECTING AN INVASION BY THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN AND NOT BY THE AXIS NATIONS OF GERMANY OR ITALY. NO PERSON OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY -- CITIZEN OR ALIEN -- HAD TO LEAVE ANY OF THE OTHER STATES AWAY FROM THE MILITARY DESIGNATED AREAS KNOWN AS THE "RED ZONES" ON THE WEST COAST. THEY REMAINED ON JOBS AND IN THEIR HOMES. THIS INCLUDED "ENEMY ALIENS", FOR THAT'S WHAT JAPANESE NATIONALS WERE WITH THE BOMBING OF PEARL HARBOR. REFLECT FOR A MOMENT ON THE TREATMENT OF AMERICANS AND THEIR ALLIES WHO WERE CAUGHT ABROAD.

LET'S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. THERE WERE NO JAPANESE-AMERICANS INTERNED IN INTERNMENT CAMPS DURING WWII. ONLY ENEMY ALIENS WERE IN THE INTERNMENT CAMPS ADMINISTERED BY THE MILITARY. INTERNEES WERE PEOPLE WHO WERE INDIVIDUALLY SUSPECTED OF BEING DANGEROUS TO THE INTERNAL SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES, WERE GIVEN A HEARING ON CHARGES TO THAT EFFECT AND WERE THEN CONFINED IN AN INTERNMENT CAMP.

THE WORD "CAMP", WHEN REFERRING TO THE RELOCATION CENTERS, LEADS PEOPLE TO CONFUSE THE CENTERS ADMINISTERED BY THE WRA, WITH THE DETENTION AND INTERNMENT CAMPS ADMINISTERED BY OTHER AGENCIES.

EVACUEES WERE NOT "INTERNED". IN FACT, EVACUEES WERE FREE TO LEAVE THE WRA CENTERS, WERE URGED AND ASSISTED IN DOING SO. AND ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE AND VITAL AGENCIES WORKING FOR RELOCATION WAS THE JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE, THE SAME JACL THAT TWICE HONORED THE DIRECTOR AND STAFF OF THE WRA FOR "THE HUMANE TREATMENT AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLIGHT OF THE EVACUEES."

I INTERVIEWED MR. MYER, DIRECTOR FO THE WRA, AT HIS HOME IN WASHINGTON, D.C. THIS DEDICATED AMERICAN, WHO NOW LIES DESPERATELY ILL, APPEALED TO ME TO REPRESENT HIS FEELINGS, AND HAS HELPED SPONSOR MY TRIP ON BEHALF OF AFHA, TO TESTIFY BEFORE THIS COMMISSION. MR. MYER SAID, "I DO NOT WANT TO GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS A DIRECTOR OF 'CONCENTRATION CAMPS'". AND WHEN I MENTIONED THE NAMES OF THOSE

WHO HAVE LED THE CAMPAIGN TO DEMEAN AMERICA AND AMERICANS WITH THAT INFAMOUS TERM, "CONCENTRATION CAMP", MR. MYER [WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES] SAID, "WHY THOSE MEN KISSED MY HAND IN GRATITUDE!"

LISTEN TO THIS MAN FOR DEAR HONOR'S SAKE! DO NOT DEMEAN THE DEAD WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES SO THERE WOULD NEVER BE "CONCENTRATION CAMPS" ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! DO NOT MAKE A MOCKERY OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THOSE NAZI DEATH CAMPS BY EQUATING AMERICA'S RELOCATION CENTERS OR INTERNMENT CAMPS OR SEGREGATION CENTER, WITH "CONCENTRATION CAMPS". THE WWII CONNOTATION OF "CONCENTRATION CAMP" IS "DEATH CAMP" AND CONJURES UP THE MOST HORRIBLE OF IMAGES; AND THE TERM IS HIGHLY PROPAGANDISTIC.

AS PRESIDENT REAGAN WROTE ME: "I MUST CONFESS I HAVE MUCH MORE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE RELOCATION CAMPS NOW THANKS TO YOU. THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND IT WOULD BE A GREAT INJUSTICE TO MOUNT MARKERS DESIGNATING THEM AS 'CONCENTRATION CAMPS'. WHATEVER THE TECHNICAL INTERPRETATION OF SUCH A TERM, IT WILL ALWAYS EVOKE A PICTURE OF THE HORROR CAMPS IN NAZI GERMANY. THERE WAS CERTAINLY NO COMPARISON BETWEEN THOSE AND THE CAMPS HERE IN THE UNITED STATES..."

OUR SUPREME COURT IS THE LEGAL BODY WHOSE GRAVE RESPONSIBILITY IS TO MAKE FINAL JUDGMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF GOVERNMENT ACTIONS. IN THE 6-3 KOREMATSU DECISION UPHOLDING THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF OUR GOVERNMENT'S WARTIME ACTION, THREE OF OUR MOST LIBERAL JUDGES VOTED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE: MR. JUSTICES DOUGLAS, BLACK, AND FRANKFURTER. FURTHERMORE, WHEN THE LATE MR. JUSTICE EARL WARREN WAS ASKED TO APOLOGIZE FOR HIS WWII ACTIONS AS ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CALIFORNIA, HE NEVER WOULD APOLOGIZE.

THE LATE MR. JUSTICE WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS, [PROBABLY THE MOST LIBERAL JUSTICE EVER SEATED ON THE BENCH], REAFFIRMED HIS POSITION AS LATE AS 1974, [DEFUNIS V. ODEGAARD], STATING: "OUR NAVY WAS SUNK AT PEARL HARBOR, AND NO ONE KNEW WHERE THE JAPANESE FLEET WAS... IF THE JAPANESE HAD LANDED TROOPS ON OUR WEST COAST, NOTHING COULD STOP THEM WEST OF THE ROCKIES. THE MILITARY JUDGMENT WAS THAT, TO AID IN THE PROSPECTIVE DEFENSE OF THE WEST COAST, THE ENCLAVES OF AMERICANS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY SHOULD BE MOVED INLAND, LEST

THE INVADERS BY DONNING CIVILIAN CLOTHES WOULD WREAK EVEN MORE SERIOUS HAVOC ON OUR WESTERN PORTS..."

MR. JUSTICE HUGO BLACK, WRITING THE OPINION FOR THE COURT, STATED: "ALL CITIZENS ALIKE, BOTH IN AND OUT OF UNIFORM, FEEL THE IMPACT OF WAR IN GREATER OR LESSER MEASURE. CITIZENSHIP HAS ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AS WELL AS ITS PRIVILEGES AND IN TIME OF WAR THE BURDEN IS ALWAYS HEAVIER." AND TH 6-3 DECISION UPHELD E.O. 9066, AS OF THE TIME IT WAS WRITTEN, AS "NOTHING MORE THAN AN EXCLUSION ORDER". FURTHERMORE, THE COURT STATED, IN TIME OF WAR WE MUST INEVITABLY PLACE OUR TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN OUR MILITARY LEADERS.

THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO E.O.9066 WITHOUT PEARL HARBOR! THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO INTERNMENT CAMPS, POW CAMPS, WRA CENTERS, OR THE SEGREGATION CENTER OF TULE LAKE, HAD NOT AMERICA EXPERIENCED THAT DECEMBER "DAY OF INFAMY".

FURTHERMORE, MR. JUSTICE FELIX FRANKFURTER ADDED IN CONFIRMING THE COURT'S RULING, THAT ACTIONS TAKEN DURING TIME OF WAR "SHALL NOT BE STIGMATIZED AS LAWLESS BECAUSE LIKE ACTIONS TAKEN DURING TIME OF PEACE WOULD BE LAWLESS".

WHAT PRICE HAVE THOSE WHO ASSEMBLE HERE IN THE NAME OF "REDRESS AND REPARATIONS" PAID FOR THE COST OF WAR? MOST WERE EITHER TOO YOUNG OR WEREN'T EVEN BORN DURING WWII! FIVE THOUSAND AMERICANS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY SPENT THE WAR YEARS AT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, THANKS TO SOME CHURCH GROUPS AND SCHOLARSHIPS ESTABLISHED BY SYMPATHETIC SPONSORS. ONE-FOURTH OF ALL AMERICANS IN THE TEN WRA CENTERS WERE 15 YEARS OF AGE. THE HIGHEST LIVE-BIRTH RATE WAS IN THE WRA CENTERS. ARE THESE THE PEOPLE TODAY WHO ASK OR "REDRESS AND REPARATIONS"? IF SO, THEN DON'T ASK OUR GOVERNMENT FORTY YEARS LATER, WHY A MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY MADE THE HARD CHOICE OF REMAINING AT A RELOCATION CENTER, OR AT THE SEGREGATION CENTER OF TULE LAKE.

THERE HASN'T BEEN A SINGLE LAW SUIT CLAIMING "INHUMANITY" AGAINST ANY GOVERNMENT WWII AGENCY ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING IN ANY OF THE FACILITIES MENTIONED BEFORE. I PLEAD FOR A SENSE OF SANITY IN THIS SENSELESS, SHAMELESS PLAY ON THE SENSITIVITIES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, A PEOPLE PRACTICED IN "HUMAN RIGHTS" LONG BEFORE

FORMER PRESIDENT CARTER THOUGHT HE COINED THE PHRASE; A PEOPLE FIRST TO RESPOND TO ANY HUMAN NEED ON THIS PLANET WE SHARE; FIRST TO RECOGNIZE THAT ONE "CANNOT STIR A FLOWER WITHOUT DISTURBING A STAR". AND SO AMERICA HAS ALWAYS REACHED OUT AS NO OTHER NATION IN HISTORY -- REACHING OUT REGARDLESS OF RACE, CREED, OR COLOR, REACHING OUT ACROSS EVERY SEA IN A SENSE OF BROTHERHOOD AND HUMANITARIANISM.

PROPONENTS OF THE TERM "CONCENTRATION CAMP" HAVE ARGUED THAT IT'S NOTHING MORE THAN A "DICTIONARY DEFINITION". THE WORD "JAP" IS DEFINED IN SOME DICTIONARIES AS AN ABBREVIATION FOR JAPAN. BUT SINCE WWII, THE CONNOTATION OF "JAP", ACCORDING TO DR. DON HATA [QUOTED IN A LOS ANGELES TIMES' ARTICLE], IS "DIRTY, AGGRESSIVE, ENEMY JAP". USING THE TERM "CONCENTRATION CAMP", [SINCE WWII], IS AS OFFENSIVE TO AMERICANS AS CALLING A PERSON OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY A "JAP", A MEMBER OF THE JEWISH FAITH, A "KIKE", A BLACK A "NIGGER".

WHEN THE HONORABLE SENATOR FROM HAWAII WAS CALLED "JAP" DURING THE WATERGATE HEARINGS, IT WAS MADE HEADLINES; YET THIS SAME SENATOR SEEMS LESS OFFENDED BY THE TERM "CONCENTRATION CAMP". IS IT MORE OFFENSIVE TO SLUR ONES RACE OR FAITH THAN ONES COUNTRY?

ONLY A "DICTIONARY DEFINITION"? THEN WHY THE POLITICAL MACHINATIONS WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT HISTORICAL MARKERS ON AMERICAN SOIL WHICH STATE THAT AMERICA HAD "CONCENTRATION CAMPS"? WHY ARE LETTERS FROM EVACUEES AT MANZANAR RELOCATION CENTER DISPLAYED WITH EXHIBITS OF THE HOLOCAUST AND ON DISPLAY AT DACHAU? MARKERS ARE NOT POLITICAL CHALKBOARDS!

ONLY A "DICTIONARY DEFINITION"? LITTLE KNOWN MARY ANTIN, WRITING "TH PROMISED LAND" IN 1912, EXPRESSED HERSELF IN WORDS TO WAKE THE MOST DORMANT SPIRIT IN AMERICA. HER WORDS TOUCH ME DEEPLY AS I THINK OF MY IMMIGRANT PARENTS AND WHAT THEY MUST HAVE FELT AND EXPERIENCED AS THEY CROSSED THE OCEAN SEEKING THE FREEDOMS WE SHOULD ALL CHERISH:

"SO AT LAST I AM GOING TO AMERICA! REALLY, REALLY GOING, AT LAST! THE BOUNDARIES BURST. THE ARCH OF HEAVEN SOARS. A MILLION SUNS SHONE OUT FROM EVERY STAR. THE WINDS RUSHED IN FROM OUTER SPACE, ROARING IN MY EARS, 'AMERICA'! 'AMERICA'!"

"AMERICA!" "AMERICA!" ONLY WORDS? "CONCENTRATION CAMPS", ONLY

A "DICTIONARY DEFINITION"? NO! THE MORALITY OF WORDS LIE NOT BETWEEN THE PAGES OF A DICTIONARY NOR IN THE POLITICAL DEFINITION OF THE DEFIANT ONES; RATHER OUR LATE, GREAT, MR. JUSTICE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, IN A 1919 DECISION, EXPRESSED IT BEST WHEN HE SAID THAT FREE SPEECH DOES NOT PROTECT THE MAN FALSELY SHOUTING FIRE IN A THEATRE AND CAUSING A PANIC... [AND I NOW QUOTE HIM], "THE QUESTION IN EVERY CASE IS WHETHER THE WORDS USED IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES AND ARE OF SUCH A NATURE AS TO CREATE A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER..."

WAKE UP AMERICA! THE USE OF THE WORDS "CONCENTRATION CAMP" PRESENTS THAT CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER NOW! AND ONLY A GREAT PUBLIC OUTCRY CAN STRIP THE BRANCHES OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL TREE OF THOSE POISONOUS POLITICAL AND PROPAGANDISTIC PLUMS.

SADLY ENOUGH, IT'S THOSE IN HIGH PLACES THAT, [IN THEIR UNEDUCATED GUESSES ON THE SUBJECT', ALLOW THEMSELVES UNWITTINGLY TO BECOME TOOLS OF THOSE SEEKING ANYTHING BUT THE BETTERMENT OF AMERICA, AND ALWAYS IN THE GUISE OF "FREEDOM" AND "CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES".

THE TV PROPAGANDISTS MIGHT CEASE THEIR DISTORTIONS CAMOUFLAGED AS "DOCUMENTARIES" SUCH AS "GUILTY BY REASON OF RACE", AND "FAREWELL TO MANZANAR", AND THEN THERE'D BE A MORE NOTICEABLE ELIMINATION OF THE THREAT TO A FREE MEDIA. BY GIVING THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TRULY BALANCED COVERAGE, UNTAINTED AND UNCONTAMINATED BY POLITICAL BIAS OR SERVITUDE, THE MAJOR MEDIA WOULD BE SERVING ALL AMERICA AS A FREE MEDIA SHOULD. INSTEAD, AMERICANS FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY, HAS BEEN DENIED "EQUAL TIME" GIVEN ITS OPPONENTS, ONE OF WHOM ALWAYS SIGNED HER LETTERS AND SPOKE OF HERSELF ON PUBLIC PLATFORM AS "A SURVIVOR OF AN AMERICAN CONCENTRATION CAMP".

WELL, TODAY I HAVE REACHED A MILESTONE IN OPEN FORUM. I'VE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT AN ISSUE CONSIDERED TOO TENDER OR TABOO FOR TRUTH'S SCALPEL. BUT IT TAKES JUST SUCH A LANCE TO PUNCTURE THE BOIL, EXPELLING ALL THE POLITICAL AND PROPAGANDISTIC POISON. LET US PRAY THAT TH WOUND WILL HEAL IN A HEALTHFUL AIR OF CONSIDERED JUDGMENT.

MANY OF MY OPPONENTS HAVE TRIED TO SILENCE ME AS SPOKESWOMAN FOR AMERICANS FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY. BUT TO PARAPHRASE THE LATE

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL: "WE WOMEN DID NOT CROSS THE SEAS, THE MOUNTAINS, AND THE PRAIRIES OF FRONTIER AMERICA BECAUSE WE ARE MADE OF SUGAR CANDY", THUS I DON'T MELT AT THE FIRST HARSH GLANCE, NOR AM I REDUCED TO TEARS BY MY OPPONENTS' ATTEMPTS AT CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.

THIS HAS BEEN A DECADE OF ARDUOUS BATTLE, BEGINNING AS A SPARK IN A WASTE-BASKET. NOW THE BUILDING'S BURNING DOWN! SOME AMERICANS, AS WELL AS MEMBERS OF MY ORGANIZATION, CALL THE "CONCENTRATION CAMP CONSPIRACY", THE "SECOND PEARL HARBOR". FOREWARNED, WE CAN PREVENT THAT!

MAKE STRONGER, WITH THE MORTAR OF PATRIOTISM, THAT SOLID "ROCK OF AGES"... AMERICA. DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT AMERICA SHALL BE A COUNTRY OF LAW, OR SHALL A SMALL GROUP, HARDLY REPRESENTING EITHER THE JAPANESE COMMUNITY OR OTHER AMERICANS, EMASCULATE OUR LAWS, MAKING THESE LAWS IMPOTENT AND INEFFECTUAL, THUS DESTROYING THE FRUITION OF FUTURE SEEDS OF LIBERTY.

IN THIS YEAR OF OVERLY CONSCIOUS TRIBUTES TO THE ATTRIBUTES OF WOMEN, I TRUST I'LL NOT BE FAULTED IN POINTING OUT THAT LIBERTY IS SYMBOLIZED BY TWO FEMALE FORMS: ONE BALANCES THE SCALES OF JUSTICE IN AMERICA; THE OTHER HOLDS HIGH THE TORCH OF FREEDOM FOR PEOPLE'S EVERYWHERE.

SHALL AMERICANS TURN ASIDE WHEN THESE SYMBOLIC FEMALES ARE RAPED OF DIGNITY AND ROBBED OF DESTINY BY A BADN OF PSEUDO-"LIBERTY"-MEN?

SHALL THE FREE PRESS IN AMERICAN BE DIKED BY MY OPPOSTION SO THE PUBLIC CANNOT RECEIVE A FREE-FLOW OF INFORMATION? SHALL ANY MEDIA COVER-UP WHEN THE LAW OF THE LAND HAS BEEN SET ASIDE BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT "POLICY" BROUGHT ABOUT BY AN INFILTRATION OF ANTI-AMERICAN ACTIVISTS WITHIN GOVERNMENTAL RANKS?

"REDRESS AND REPARATIONS" IS NOT THE ISSUE. THESE ARE THE ISSUES. NOT JUST THE FOUR BILLION TAX DOLLARS AT STAKE, BUT THE HONOR OF OUR COUNTRY!

THE POSITION TAKEN BY THE SPEAKER, REPRESENTING AMERICANS FOR HISTORICAL ACCURACY, IS FORTIFIED BY DOCUMENTED FACTS AND EVACUEE STATEMENTS. THOSE WHO WOULD TAKE TO LEARN, ARE WELCOME TO THE PRESS KITS MADE AVAILABLE BY THIS ORGANIZATION.

THANK YOU.