THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

59

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

Requesting a CURRICULUM FOR wORLD WAR II JAPANESE INTERNMENT.

 

WHEREAS, the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II was not justified by military necessity; and

WHEREAS, the decisions which followed Executive Order No. 9066 were not founded upon military considerations; and

WHEREAS, these decisions included the exclusion and detention of American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese descent; and

WHEREAS, the broad historical causes that shaped these decisions were racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership; and

WHEREAS, widespread ignorance about Americans of Japanese descent contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan; and

WHEREAS, a grave personal injustice was done to the American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without individual review or any documented acts of espionage or sabotage, were excluded, removed, and detained by the United States during World War II; and

WHEREAS, for these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry, the United States apologized on behalf of the nation in the federal Civil Liberties Act of 1988; and

WHEREAS, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 bombings of the World Trade Center towers, the Legislature is determined that prejudice, hysteria, and politics must not be the cause of such fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of American citizens and foreign nationals; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry and the nisei veterans' participation in World War II; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to develop the necessary guidelines that would enable a nonprofit or any other organization to conduct research and develop curriculum on the subject; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the guidelines provide for:

(1) The development, coordination, and distribution of new educational materials and curriculum materials to complement and augment resources currently available on this subject matter;

(2) The development of videos, plays, presentations, speaker bureaus, and exhibitions for presentation to public elementary and secondary schools in consultation with appropriate state and district resource teachers;

(3) The coordination and utilization of oral histories, documentary materials, and other artifacts compiled and originated by isseis, niseis, sanseis, their families, and organizations such as the 442nd Veterans Club, the 100th Battalion Veterans Club, the 1399 Veterans Club, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Veterans Club, the Oahu AJA Veterans Council, other national veterans' organizations, and other related organizations; and

(4) Partnering with such organizations as the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, the Japanese American National Museum, the Hirasaki National Resource Center, the Civil Liberties Archives and Study Center, the Japanese American Citizens League, the Oral History Project, and other related organizations to provide technical assistance on this subject matter;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of the Department of Education, and the Board of Education.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Curriculum for World War II Japanese Internment