SJ0051 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the forced removal and incarceration of over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast; and

WHEREAS, In addition to property losses, the affected individuals suffered immeasurable damages that included the loss of freedom, the loss of personal dignity, the loss of income, and the disruption of careers and education, as well as the psychological trauma of having been wrongfully detained for periods of up to 4 years; and

WHEREAS, No charges of wrongdoing were ever filed against any Japanese-American residing in the security zone; and

WHEREAS, Japanese-Americans volunteered to serve in the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service and demonstrated exemplary heroism and courage; the 442nd Regimental Combat Team became the most highly decorated unit in United States Army history, with the unit earning 21 Medals of Honor and the Congressional Gold Medal; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 40 years after Executive Order 9066 and United States Supreme Court decisions upholding the convictions of Fred Korematsu, Minoru Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi for violations of curfew, it was discovered that officials from the United States Department of Justice altered and destroyed evidence regarding the loyalty of Japanese-Americans and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry and withheld information from the United States Supreme Court; and

WHEREAS, On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 into law, finding that Executive Order 9066 was not justified by national security and that the broad causes were wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership; and

WHEREAS, February 19, 2014 marks the 72nd anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which initiated a grave injustice to Japanese-Americans, who, without individual review or any probative evidence against them, were excluded, removed, and detained by the United States government during World War II; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate February 19, 2014 as a Day of Remembrance in the State of Illinois in order to increase public awareness of the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II.