Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 6, 1 June 1987 — Mai Wakinekona [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Mai Wakinekona

By Larry Kamakawiwo'ole Federal Liaison Officer

Native Hawaiians and Federal Issu.es

Senate Passes Native Hawaiian Bill. The Senate on Apr. 22 passed by voice vote S. 360, the Native Hawaiian Education Act of 1987. On that same day, H.R. 1081, the House eompanion bill, was reported favorably out of the House committee on Education and Labor. United States vs.

Hohri. On Apr. 20 I was present at the U.S. Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in this case. It is the Japa-nese-American reparation lawsuit whieh was filed in 1983 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In Hohri, respondents (19 individuals, former internees or their representatives) seek redress from the federal government for themselves and a class of 120,000 persons alleged to be victimized by the internment program during World War II. Respondents elaim they were subjected to forcible arrest, segregation, exclusion, imprisonment, curfew and travel restrictions, deportation, loss of citizenship and other deprivations of civil rights and liberties due to their Japanese ancestry. the interness were detained under orders of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt after the surprise Dec. 7, 1941 attack by Japan on Pear! Harbor. A major issue before the Supreme Court was whether or not the six-year statute of limitations had run out thereby barring the respondents from their claims of deprivation of liberties and confiscation of property. While upholding a Federal district court's dismissal of the lawsuit with respect to most of the respondents' claims, the appeals court in June, 1986, overturned its ruling that the respondents' (then plaintiffs') elaim for confiscation of property was barred by the six-year statute of limitations. The appeals court ruled that the government had concealed from the Supreme Court vital evidence undermining its argument of "military necessity" for the wartime measures against the JapaneseAmericans. The appeals court said that this eoneealment, among other things, giving broad deference to the "military necessity" argument, had the effect of suspending the statute of limitations until 1980, when an

Act of Congress suggested that the detention may have been wrong and created a commission to study the matter. It is important to note that the State of Hawai'ijoined the State of California in filing an amicus eunae in support of the respondents. On Oct. 12, 1942, a total of 1,875 citizens and resident aliens in the islands were removed to relocation centers on the mainland. In that amicus brief, it states that Hawai'i has a compelling interest in seeing that justice is not denied to tens of thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry. . .removed from their homes and interned by the government during World War II. S. 1009, to accept the findings and to implement the recommendations of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Sen atorSparkM. Matsunagaon Apr. 10introducedS. 1009 with 70 co-sponsors, including Senator Daniel K. Inouye. The bill was referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. It calls for the following: 1. Recognition of injustice and an apology by Congress on behalf of the nation. 2. Establishment of a $1.3 billion Civil Liberties Public Education Fund ("Fund") to be administered by the Secretary of the Treasury. The purpose of the Fund is to finance efforts to inform the public about the internment of Japanese-Americans in order to prevent any similar reoccurrence. 3. Pardon for certain individuals of Japanese ancestry whose criminal convictions for violation of military orders were based on a refusal by such persons to aecept treatment that discriminated against them on the basis of race or ethnicity. 4. Twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) from the Fund to be given to eaeh identified living internee for restitution in return for the extinguishment of claims against the U.S. 5. Establishment of a Fund Board of Directors ("Board") composed of nine members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. At least five of the Board members appointed snall be persons of Japanese ancestry. The Board shall be responsible for making disbursements from the Fund. S. 1009 also includes restitution for the peoples of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. However, that section of the bill is not covered in this report.