Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 8, 1 October 1984 — Maui Council Supports JACL, Alaskan Aleuts [ARTICLE]

Maui Council Supports JACL, Alaskan Aleuts

A resolution supporting the Japanese American Citizens League and Senate Bill 2116, introduced by Maui County Councilman Abraham Aiona, was unanimously adopted by the Council on Aug. 17. Aiona was not on hand to see the fruits of his labor but he received the news in Honolulu with great excitement. Pinehhitting for him at the Council meeting was Councilwoman Velma M. Santos who issued a brief statement written by Aiona. Aiona was in Honolulu to attend a symposium on hi-tech and was a guest the same evening of the JACL national body at its 28th hiennial convention sayonara banquet. Copies of the resolution were presented to outgoing national president Floyd Shimomura and his successor Frank Sato. In his statement, Aiona pulled no punches.

"The plight of the Japanese Americans at the start of World Warll when 120,000 were interned in relocation camps surrounded by fences and patrolled by armed guards, was an injustice to them and a blot in the history of America," he observed. Aiona went on: "The carte hlanehe condemnation of people, U.S. citizens and aliens, wascomparable to Hitler's removal of the Jews from conquered countries to barbed wire concentration camps. Hitlerwent behond

what was done in Amenea when he exterminated the non-Aryan people he feared. "What America did to the Japanese Americans could be likened to what happened to our Hawaiian people — not interning us like the Japanese Americans but decimating the Hawaiian race through the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893, and theannexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1898. "The U.S. government owes the Japanese Americans a national apology and the establishment of a fund to pay eaeh surviving internee a sum of $20,000. A serious wrong must be righted immediately."

The resolution itse!f commends the efforts of the J ACL through its volunteer network of 1 14 loeal chapters across the nation in seeking redress and reparations for Americans and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry through SB 2116. The resolution also supports the same efforts being waged by the Alaskan Aleuts who were subjected to forced evacuation and interned in detention camps during World War II. Certified coipes of the resolution were transmitted to Pres. Reagan; speaker of the U.S. House; chairman of the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee; president of the U.S. Senate; members of Hawaii's Congressional delegation; and Lawrence Kumabe, president, JACL Honolulu Chapter.