Report Title:

Education; World War II Internment of Japanese-American Citizens

Description:

Appropriates funds to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention versus inclusion, participation, and empowerment of persons of Japanese ancestry, as well as other human and civil rights events and experiences. (SD1)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1691

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to education.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II was not justified by military necessity, and that the decisions which followed Executive Order No. 9066 were not founded upon military considerations. These decisions included the exclusion and detention of American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese descent. The broad historical causes that shaped these decisions were racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. Widespread ignorance about Americans of Japanese descent contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan. A grave personal injustice was done to the American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without individual review or any documented acts of espionage or sabotage, were excluded, removed, and detained by the United States during World War II.

For these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry, the United States Congress apologized on behalf of the nation in the federal Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, bombings of the World Trade Center towers, the legislature is determined that prejudice, hysteria, and politics must not be the cause of such fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of American citizens and foreign nationals.

Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the department of education to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry, and empowerment (e.g. nisei veterans' participation in World War II), as follows:

(1) Educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry versus inclusion, participation, through the development, coordination, and distribution of new educational materials and the development of curriculum materials to complement and augment resources currently available on this subject matter;

(2) Develop videos, plays, presentations, speaker bureaus, and exhibitions for presentation to public elementary and secondary schools in consultation with appropriate state and district resource teachers;

(3) Coordinate and utilize oral histories, documentary materials, and other artifacts compiled and originated by nisei veterans, their families, organizations such as the 442nd Veterans Club, Club 100, national nisei veterans' organizations, and related organizations; and

(4) Contract with such organizations as the Japanese American National Museum, Hirasaki National Resource Center, Civil Liberties Archives and Study Center, Japanese American Citizens League, Oral History Project, and other related organizations through the issuance of a grant-in-aid, to provide technical assistance on this subject matter to the department of education.

The further purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the department of education to develop new educational and curriculum materials to enable students to have greater awareness of the importance of social justice, equity, and fairness in society amongst all individuals and groups. In particular, upon reflecting on the lessons learned from the Japanese American internment, exhibits, plays, videos, documentary materials, oral histories, books, and curriculum materials would be developed by the department of education to teach public school students about history and significance of human and civil rights events and experiences, locally, nationally, and internationally.

SECTION 2. The department of education shall develop exhibits, plays, videos, documentary materials, oral histories, books, and curriculum materials to teach public school students about the history and significance of human and civil rights events and experiences, locally, nationally, and internationally.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $115,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2003-2004, for one full-time equivalent resource teacher position to coordinate the development and implementation of curriculum and instructional aids to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the Japanese American internment, and other local, national, and international, civil and human rights events and experiences.

SECTION 4. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003.