Historical Landmark Japanese American Statue at San Jose State University

WHEREAS, there is a long history of anti-Asian discrimination in the USA, which continues to this very day; and

WHEREAS, one of the worst anti-Asian events in America happened in San Jose Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942, and

WHEREAS, President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 forced all Japanese to pack their bags and relocate to internment camps far from the Pacific Coast; and

WHEREAS, on May 24th and 25th, 1942, the San Jose State building now known as Yoshihiro Uchida Hall served as a registration center for 2,487 people of Japanese descent before they were forcibly removed to 11 camps across the nation –a cross-section of the 120,000 that were incarcerated for periods of up to four years; and

WHEREAS, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 men, women, and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style camps; and

WHEREAS, the Manzanar National Historic Site, which preserves and interprets the legacy of Japanese American incarceration in the United States, was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the ten former camp sites.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that NAACP supports the Japanese American Citizen's League's petition of the United States National Park Service to create a reflection space at San Jose State University in San Jose, California memorializing the Japanese Internment.