The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (collectively the ‘Tri-Caucus’) sent a letter on March 5 calling on House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) to repudiate the views expressed by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) regarding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

The Tri-Caucus further called on Speaker Hastert and Chairman Sensenbrenner to pass H. Res. 56, the “Day of Remembrance” Resolution authored by Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), and thus assure all Americans that Congress knows that the internment of Americans without due process during World War II was wrong, a press release said..

During a radio call-in show on Feb. 4, 2003, Congressman Coble was reported as having stated that the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was not wrong because “they were an endangered species” and “it wasn’t safe for them to be on the street.”

Congressman Coble also stated that he agreed with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s establishment of the internment camps because “some (Japanese Americans) probably were intent on doing harm to us, just as some of these Arab Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us,” the statement said.

“Congressman Coble was irresponsible, inflammatory and patently wrong. In 1988, President Reagan and Congress offered an apology and redress to the Japanese American community for its internment by enacting the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. The Act formally criticized President Roosevelt’s decision to intern Japanese Americans and apologized for “fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry,” it said.

In their letter to Speaker Hastert and Sensenbrenner, the Tri-Caucus said “To demonstrate that you have learned from the Trent Lott experience and the importance of getting history right, we ask you to repudiate Congressman Coble’s statements as an inaccurate, misleading and potentially damaging view of history.”

(Complied from press release by Ganesh S. Lakshman)