On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive
Order 9066 which set in motion the forced evacuation and incarceration
of many thousands of loyal United States citizens solely by reason of
their Japanese ancestry.
That thousands of Japanese American citizens were wrongfully interned in
American concentration camps without charge and without a fair hearing
continues to trouble the conscience of this Nation. The internment of
Japanese Americans should serve as a powerful reminder that in defending
this Nation and its ideals, we must do so as faithfully in the
courtrooms and the public squares of this country as upon the
battlefields.
In spite of the terrible ordeal of internment, Japanese Americans
remained steadfastly loyal to the United States throughout World War II.
Even as thousands lost their homes and their economic livelihoods, many
thousands of young Japanese American men bravely took up arms and
sacrificed their lives to defend this country. Although the National
Government’s fidelity to the ideals upon which it was founded lapsed
during the war, the unshakeable faith of Japanese Americans in those
same ideals did not.
On February 19th, I ask that all Californians join me in solemn
remembrance of the issuance of Executive Order 9066 on February 19,
1942. I similarly ask that all Californians commemorate the rescission
of Executive Order 9066 by President Gerald R. Ford on February 19,
1976.
NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of
California, do hereby proclaim February 19, 2013 as “A Day of
Remembrance: Japanese American Evacuation.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal
of the State of California to be affixed this 19th day of February
2013.
___________________________________
EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California
