SR16, As Adopted by Senate, February 21, 2017

            Senator Colbeck offered the following resolution:

            Senate Resolution No. 16.

            A resolution to declare February 19, 2017, as Japanese Internment Day of Remembrance.

            Whereas, On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the mass removal and incarceration of roughly 127,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast because of ancestry; and

            Whereas, Japanese-American families gave up ownership of their homes, business, and assets not knowing if their property and belongings will be there when they returned; and

            Whereas, Civil liberties advocates brought lawsuits against the relocation, stating it was unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court refused to overturn the internment orders; and

            Whereas, Japanese-Americans were released in 1945, many who returned home faced legal battles for propriety rights, had no financial assets, and experienced trauma from their imprisonment; and

            Whereas, In 1948, the Federal Government distributed $37 million in reparations, and in 1988, the federal government approved legislation providing an official apology and an additional payment of $20,000 to each surviving internee; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate, That the members of this legislative body declare February 19, 2017, as Japanese Internment Day of Remembrance.