BILL NUMBER: ACR 8	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY  Assembly Member Honda

                        JANUARY 28, 1997

   Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 8--Relative to a Day of
Remembrance.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 8, as introduced, Honda.  Day of Remembrance.
   This measure would declare February 19, 1997, as a Day of
Remembrance in order to increase public awareness of the events
surrounding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

   Fiscal committee:  no.




   WHEREAS, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive
Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, pursuant to which 120,000 Japanese
Americans and legal resident aliens were incarcerated in internment
camps during World War II; and
   WHEREAS, The alleged basis for incarceration was military
necessity; and
   WHEREAS, President Gerald Ford formally rescinded Executive Order
9066 on February 19, 1976; and
   WHEREAS, Congress adopted legislation on July 21, 1980, which was
signed by President Jimmy Carter on July 31, 1980, to establish the
Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC)
to investigate the claim that the incarceration of Japanese Americans
and legal resident aliens during World War II was justified by
military necessity; and
   WHEREAS, The CWRIC held 20 days of hearings on this matter and
heard from over 750 witnesses; and
   WHEREAS, The CWRIC published its findings in a report entitled
"Personal Justice Denied"; and
   WHEREAS, The CWRIC principal finding and conclusion was "the
promulgation of Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military
necessity, and the decision which followed from it--detention, ending
detention, and ending exclusion--were not driven by analysis of
military conditions.  The broad historical causes which shaped these
decisions were race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of
political leadership"; and
   WHEREAS, Congress adopted H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of
1988 (P.L.  100-383), which stated "for these fundamental violations
of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these
individuals of Japanese ancestry, the Congress apologized on behalf
of the Nation"; and
   WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of
1988 into law on August 10, 1988, at which time he proclaimed, "This
is a great day for America"; and
   WHEREAS, The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 established the Civil
Liberties Public Education Fund, the purpose of which is "to sponsor
research and public educational activities and to publish and
distribute the hearings, findings, and recommendations of the CWRIC
so that the events surrounding the exclusion, forced removal, and
internment of civilians and permanent resident aliens of Japanese
ancestry will be remembered, and so that the causes and circumstances
of this and similar events may be illuminated and understood"; and
   WHEREAS, The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund will sponsor a
National Day of Remembrance on February 19, 1997, to reflect upon the
effects of Executive Order 9066, the activities of the CWRIC, and
the adoption of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988; and
   WHEREAS, The purpose of the National Day of Remembrance is to
educate the public about the lessons learned from the internment to
ensure that it never happens again; and
   WHEREAS, Organizations will sponsor related activities in the
following areas of California:  Sacramento, San Francisco, Los
Angeles, San Jose, San Diego, Gilroy, Monterey, San Benito, Salinas,
and Watsonville; and
   WHEREAS, February 19, 1997, will mark the 55-year anniversary of
the date Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
declares February 19, 1997, as a Day of Remembrance in this state in
order to increase public awareness of the events surrounding the
internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; and be it
further
   Resolved, That the Legislature encourages the annual observance of
this day in future years; and be it further
   Resolved, The Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this
resolution to the Governor of the State of California.