JACL Applauds House Hearing on H.R.40 – Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act
February 17, 2021
David Inoue, Executive Director dinoue@jacl.org, 202-607-7273
Sarah Baker, VP Public Affairs sbaker@jacl.org
Today the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing on the re-introduction of H.R. 40 – Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. H.R. 40 has been introduced in Congress every year since 1989, the year after Japanese American redress passed in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. It is long past time that this legislation passed Congress and be implemented to begin the path towards restorative racial justice.
Over 30 years ago, redress was achieved for the wrongful forced removal and incarceration during WWII of nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry on the west coast. This egregious abrogation of civil rights was carried out by our government ignorant to the citizenship and because of the racial and ethnic background of the victims. It took over 40 years for our government to take full responsibility and offer a full apology and economic reparations to incarcerees.
We are now over 155 years past the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery and over 50 years past the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Fair Housing Act which ended many of the Jim Crow Laws which extended the power of White Supremacy beyond the end of the Civil War. The legacy of these laws continues today.
Just as the CWRIC enabled Japanese Americans to tell our stories of the impact of incarceration, the H.R. 40 commission would provide members of the Black community to share the impact of the institution and the legacy of slavery.
This week over 300 testimonies from the Japanese American community are being submitted to the Congressional Record in support of H.R. 40. JACL and several other Japanese American organizations have signed on to the “Why We Can’t Wait” letter in support of H.R. 40. Japanese Americans fully understand the power of redress and reparations in our community and cannot silently stand by as our government denies the same overdue apology and reparations to the Black community.
Just as our government took responsibility for the World War II incarceration of those of Japanese ancestry, it is time for our nation to take responsibility for the institution and ongoing legacy of slavery.
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The Japanese American Citizens League is a national organization whose ongoing mission is to secure and maintain the civil rights of Japanese Americans and all others who are victimized by injustice and bigotry. The leaders and members of the JACL also work to promote cultural, educational and social values and preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American community.
