January 1, 2007
Written by C.N.
Bush Approves Internment Camp Preservation
Liberals like me have been generally ruthless in lambasting President Bush and his policies these last six years. This time however, I must congratulate him for (finally) doing the right thing by approving funds to preserve ten of the camps in which a large portion of 120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly and illegally imprisoned during World War II:
The money will be administered by the National Park Service to restore and pay for research at 10 camps. The law is intended to help preserve the camps as reminders of how the United States turned on some of its citizens in a time of fear. . . . President Bill Clinton called for the preservation of the camps in 2000 and signed a memorandum seeking recommendations on developing more opportunities for the public to learn about the internment.
The law signed by President Bush will give grants to nonfederal organizations for historical, research and restoration work at the sites named in the legislation, as well others selected by the head of the Interior Department, which includes the National Park Service. The National Park Service already operates facilities at two of the 10 camps: the Manzanar National Historic Site in California and the Minidoka Internment National Monument in Idaho.
Co-sponsors of the bill included the two current members of Congress who spent time in the camps as children: Democratic Reps. Mike Honda and Doris Matsui of California. Matsui was born in the Poston camp in Arizona.
Is there a political motive behind this approval — is President Bush trying to curry favor among Asian Americans with this particular move? Maybe, but whatever the motive, there seems to be bipartisan agreement that it was the right thing to do. Now maybe we can talk about that Iraq War thing . . .
Author Citation
Copyright © 2001- by C.N. Le. Some rights reserved. 
Suggested reference: Le, C.N. . "Bush Approves Internment Camp Preservation" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2007/01/bush-approves-internment-camp-preservation/> ().
Short URL: https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/?p=349
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