WEBVTT

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How many of you are familiar
with the Japanese-American incarceration?

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Oh! Thank you, and good night.

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(Laughter)

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You guys are wonderful.

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I was a prisoner of war,

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during World War II,

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held by my own country.

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I was six years old.

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This is my prison number:

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125 -

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12524.

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I'm the letter D.

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My family had 12524.

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My family and I were incarcerated
for three and a half years,

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in Poston, Arizona,

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during World War II.

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As a teacher, I would ask my students,

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sometimes on the first day of school:

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"Draw an American for me.

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Okay? Take out a piece of paper,
and draw an American for me.

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Okay?"

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And then I would go around the room
and check the drawings,

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and sometimes the drawings
would be of a stick figure,

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not much better than kindergarten.

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Excuse me, Marsha.

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Marsha is a kindergarten teacher, my wife.

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(Laughter)

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Draw an American for me.
You get somebody in mind?

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Hmm?

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How many of you
thought of drawing a woman?

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Thank you.

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A majority of Americans are women.

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Who says it's a man's world?

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Men!

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Women can do everything
a man can do, and more.

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How many of you thought of drawing
a blonde, blue-eyed, hunk of a guy?

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Hitler would have been so proud of you.

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To many Americans, WASP is the American:
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

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If you're not White,
Anglo-Saxon Protestant,

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you're not really an American.

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You know, I'm not Japanese.

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I've never been Japanese.

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I'm an American, of Japanese ancestry.

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My father was Japanese, my mother was
Japanese, but I'm not Japanese.

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When I go to Japan, and I speak,

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they laugh and they go:
"We don't talk like that anymore."

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They know I'm a gaijin, a foreigner.

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When I was in London, shopping,

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and I had a nice conversation
with the sales lady,

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and at the end she says:
"Oh, you Yanks."

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She's looking at me, and I'm a Yank.

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But in this country,
in parts of this country,

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I'm a damned Jap.

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And I don't mean just the South.

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There are parts of Idaho,
Montana, North Dakota and such.

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It's kind of dangerous for me to travel.

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Racism still prevails in this country.

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After 9/11, the attack
on the twin towers in New York,

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there was talk about rounding up

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all the Arabs and Muslim
Americans in this country,

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and incarcerating them
in concentration camps.

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Now to his credit,
George W. Bush, the president,

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he called a Cabinet meeting,

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and he told his Cabinet members:

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"We're not going to do to the Arab
and Muslim Americans in this country

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what we did to Norm Mineta
and his family."

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And all talk about rounding up
the Arab and Muslims stopped.

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And we were grateful.

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Now, why was Norm, his family,

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and 120,000 Japanese
and Japanese-Americans -

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two-thirds were American citizens,

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from Washington, Oregon, and California -

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incarcerated after the attack
on Pearl Harbour?

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Well,

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Cabrillo College instructor
Sandy Lydon, historian emeritus,

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said the Japanese strawberry farmer
of Watsonville had nothing to do

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with the attack on Pearl Harbour.

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Did you know that there were 158,000
Japanese and Japanese-Americans

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living in the territory of Hawaii -
it wasn't a state yet -

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who were not incarcerated, 
with the exception of about 2,000.

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They're in the war zone.

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Well, they needed the Japanese
and Japanese-Americans in Hawaii

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to run the economy of Hawaii.

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They were the plurality,
they were 37% of the population -

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a census was taken in 1940.

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Their general Evman said,

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"It's not necessary to do this.
There is no plan for sabotage."

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We, who were 2,500 miles away
from the war zone,

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we get incarcerated.

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Why?

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I have to take you back a little bit
in American history.

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The United States Constitution
legalized slavery.

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The U.S. government condoned
and practiced racism.

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The Naturalization Act in 1790:

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Asians could not become citizens
of the United States.

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The Cherokee Nation.

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You've heard of the trail of tears?

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They were forced out of their homes.

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Dred Scott decision,

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He was a slave,

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even in a free territory.

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There was an anti-Irish-Catholic
mentality in this country.

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There were signs that were printed,
and displayed: "No Irish Need Apply."

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The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

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Plessy vs. Ferguson:

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"Separate but equal."

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How can the separate be equal?

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A. Mitchell Palmer Raids, 1919-1920.

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The communists, and Jews too,
were deported without trial,

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just placed on a ship and shipped out.

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Immigration Act of 1924.

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The Japanese could not
come to this country anymore.

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Fred Korematsu case.

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Our history is a history of racism,

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and discrimination regarding 
immigration as well.

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In the early 20th century,
it was said in the newspapers -

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The Examiner, The Chronicle,
The McClatchy papers, you know,

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Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee,
and The Sentinel -

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that the Japanese race is an alien race

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which can never be assimilated
into the American way of life;

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there is nothing of value
of Japanese culture.

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Nothing of value.

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How many of you have eaten sushi?

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(Chuckling)

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Oh yeah, sushi's good for you.

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What about bonsai?

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Ikebana flower arranging?

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Origami?

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Wax on, wax off?

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(Chuckling)

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Karate?

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Ah,

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Japanese culture is rich.

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And so many enjoy participating 
n Japanese culture.

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To make sure the Japanese did not
assimilate into this country,

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laws were passed.

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Asians could not own property,

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marry whites,

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become citizens of the United States.

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After the attack on Pearl Harbour,

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December 7th, 1941.

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John L. DeWitt,

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commander of the Western Fourth Army,

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at the Presidio of San Francisco,

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had the ear of the President
of the United States.

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He said,

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"A Jap's a Jap.

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It makes no difference
whether that Jap is a citizen or not."

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J. Edgar Hoover said: "Mr. President,
we don't need to do this."

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Francis Biddle, who was
the Attorney General at the time, said:

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"Mr. President, I don't think
we can do this."

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There were no ...

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lawsuits filed on our behalf.

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Executive Order 9066
was passed 75 years ago.

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You know, there was one group, nationally,
one group, that supported us:

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The American Quakers,

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the American friends.

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They were the only ones.

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Nationally, not even
the ACLU supported us.

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Locally,

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luckily, we had some friends.

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City attorney of Watsonville,
John McCarthy,

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our police chief, Matt Graves,

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school teachers, public school teachers,

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and many others supported us.

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You know -

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The reward?

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They were called '"ap Lovers"
for supporting us.

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They had their homes and cars vandalized.

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And they were among the very first
to welcome us back.

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We had some very dear friends.

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In 1942,

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our homes were searched,
without search warrants.

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The FBI came into our homes -

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they got the information
from the Bureau of the Census.

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The Bureau of the Census
is not supposed to do that.

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We were hacked.

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There were no trials,
except for four people.

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But for the rest of us, we had no charges,

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no attorneys,

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no due process of law.

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This, the Constitution
of the United States,

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ceased to exist for us.

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There were ten major camps,

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and from the camps,

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our men and women volunteered to serve
in the United States Armed Forces.

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The men, many of them were
in the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team,

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the most decorated army unit
for its size and length of service.

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My two brothers were in the MIS,
Military Intelligence Service,

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because they could read
and write Japanese.

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They went to Japanese school
after high school each day.

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They fought against the Japanese.

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We used the Japanese language
as a weapon against the Japanese.

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The MIS

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stayed after the war,

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with the restoration,
occupation restoration of Japan.

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Their service during the war saved
countless American and Japanese lives.

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It is estimated that it shortened
the war by two years.

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Congress formally acknowledged the work

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of the 100th/442nd and MIS
with a Congressional Gold Medal.

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We're grateful.

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Our forced removal

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was illegal.

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Right?

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No.

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No.

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It's legal.

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The government of United States
can evict anyone from their homes,

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if under the guise of
"military necessity."

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Today, we won't use that term.

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We'll use the term "national security."

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Congress and the president apologized
for our wartime experience.

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The Civil Liberties Act
was passed on August 10th, 1988.

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We have an official apology.

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You know,

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of the 120,000,

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the government expected
60,000 to have died,

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and 60,000 were still alive.

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But we fooled them.

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80,000 of us were still alive.

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You see, sushi is good for you.

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(Laughter)

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There's only one race.

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That's the human race.

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There are those who wish
to classify us, you know,

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"Oh, you're Caucasian American,

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you're Asian American,

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you're Hispanic American,

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or Black American."

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There's only one race.

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You know dogs?

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We call them German Shepards,
French Poodles, and Chihuahuas.

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They go to anybody, right?

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They're color-blind.

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I wish humans were color-blind.

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(Sigh)

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Today, the present administration

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is constantly issuing
new executive orders and policies

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regarding immigration,

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contrary to the spirit of America.

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Fortunately,

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now,

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we have the Southern Poverty Law Center,

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the American Civil Liberties Union.

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We have so many groups,

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and individuals,

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supporting what really is of true America,

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something we didn't see in 1942.

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Will it happen again?

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Memory is short.

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No, not under the guise
of military necessity, no.

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So who's the biggest threat?

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Some suspect it will be
the reporters and producers of fake news.

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It doesn't have to be
an individual or a group,

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a national group or a racial group.

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It could be an occupation.

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The days of Walter Cronkite,
the conscious of America, are long gone.

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Now we have the internet,

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radio talk show hosts,

00:16:28.973 --> 00:16:31.121
TV commentators.

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I'm grateful to be living here
in Santa Cruz County,

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the second most 
iberal county in the nation.

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You know, if you know
the history of Santa Cruz city,

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it wasn't always that way.

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Yeah, minorities were not
welcome in Santa Cruz.

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Growing up, I didn't come
to Santa Cruz very often.

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But that all changed.

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How?

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Thanks to Cabrillo College,

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and University of California
at Santa Cruz.

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The intelligentsia came,

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and it changed the whole county.

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Today, this is the most wonderful place
in the whole world to live.

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And I kid you not.

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Gordon Hirabayashi.

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He was a student
at the University of Washington,

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a Quaker.

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He was arrested,

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convicted,

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imprisoned.

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The prosecuting attorneys
lied to the judges.

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Yeah, he spent some time.

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Now, his conviction was vacated.

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Not overturned, vacated.

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Gordon Hirabayashi said,

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"Ancestry is not a crime."

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Today, we would add,
"Islam is not a crime."

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With our newfound energy,

00:18:15.358 --> 00:18:17.467
we have a lot of work to do.

00:18:17.838 --> 00:18:21.345
You know those, there was
a gentlemenwho live not too far

00:18:21.345 --> 00:18:23.845
from Charlottesville, Virginia,

00:18:23.845 --> 00:18:25.722
at a place called Monticello.

00:18:26.649 --> 00:18:28.178
Thomas Jefferson,

00:18:29.036 --> 00:18:32.060
"Eternal vigilance is a price of liberty."

00:18:33.601 --> 00:18:36.685
It's up to us, all of us,

00:18:37.085 --> 00:18:41.075
to work in peace,
and harmony, compassion,

00:18:41.075 --> 00:18:43.718
to overcome hate and bigotry.

00:18:43.718 --> 00:18:45.310
And we can do it.

00:18:46.765 --> 00:18:48.233
Thank you.

00:18:48.233 --> 00:18:49.744
(Applause)