Neil, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, surveyed Honouliuli Gulch today on the island of Oahu. It's one of eight locations of former internment camps covered under a bill he's cosponsoring that asks the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine if the sites in Hawaii are eligible to be listed as historic sites under the National Park System. The camps detained leaders of the Japanese immigrant community in Hawaii after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A 2007 report by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii documented the sites that include Honouliuli Gulch, Sand Island, and the U.S. Immigration Station on Oahu, the Kilauea Military Camp on the Big Island, Haiku Camp and Wailuku County Jail on Maui, and the Kalaheo Stockade and Waialua County Jail on Kauai. These camps also held approximately 100 local residents of German and Italian ancestry.
“The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was one of the most shameful episodes in our nation’s history," says Neil. "Sadly, one has only to scan the headlines to realize that we need constant reminders about the ease with which we become suspicious and begin to assign blame for the challenges we face. These sites would also stand as a monument to the courage, quiet pride and unshakable loyalty of those who were subjected to internment.”
The legislation will enable the National Park Service to study sites and recommend to Congress the best way to preserve and maintain them.
In addition to the support of the entire Hawaii delegation, the measure is also cosponsored in the House by Representatives Michael Honda, Doris Matsui, and Laura Richardson, all of California; David Wu of Oregon; Al Green of Texas; and Bobby Scott of Virginia; and Delegates Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa; Madeleine Bordallo of Guam; and Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan of the Northern Mariana Islands.
