Neil's Notebook House bill introduced to determine future of internment sites in Hawaii
April 23, 2009
Neil is cosponsoring a House bill to have the Secretary of the Interior conduct a study to determine if internment sites in Hawaii are eligible to be listed as historic sites under the National Park System. The bill is a companion to a measure introduced in the Senate by Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye with fellow Hawaii Senator Daniel Akaka cosponsoring.
Neil toured the site of a former internment facility in Honouliuli with members of the Honolulu Japanese Cultural Center and the landowner, Monsanto.
“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 bill will enable the National Park Service to study the sites in Hawaii and make recommendations to Congress on ways to conserve and manage the sites in the future.
Senator Daniel Inouye – who during World War II fought alongside Nisei soldiers from the mainland whose families were unjustly incarcerated in mass detention camps simply because of their ancestry – said over 1,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaii during World War II.
“In a report completed in 2007, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii documented these 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," Inouye said.
