|
By Pacific Citizen Staff
Published November 20, 2009
The fiscal 2010 Department of Interior and Environment spending bill includes $3 million for camp preservation projects, said the JACL.
H.R. 2996 or the “Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 2010,” which President Barack Obama signed into law Oct. 30, includes $900,000 for barrack reconstruction at Manzanar and $350,000 for park boundary expansion at the Minidoka National Historic Site in Idaho.
Also reported in the bill’s text are land expansions for Heart Mountain in Wyoming and a special research study to determine the feasibility of including Hawaii’s Honouliuli Gulch’s in the National Park System.
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and propelled the U.S. into World War II, government officials began imprisoning Japanese American community leaders suspected of having ties to the Japanese government.
Less than one-percent of Hawaii’s JAs were imprisoned in temporary facilities scattered across the islands including Honouliuli — the largest confinement site that held about 320 people including Germans, Italians and prisoners of war.
Preservationists and community groups including the JACL have been working to ensure the former WWII internment camp gains its rightful place in American history.
“It’s exciting to see a significant move forward to preserve Honouliuli,” said JACL Hawaii President Shawn Benton. “With the passing of the ‘Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Appropriations Bill’ for the 2010 fiscal year, the dream of developing Honouliuli into a national historic site is now becoming a reality.”
In 2007, Monsanto Corp. bought the land that housed Honouliuli. The company has proposed a seven-acre parcel for a parking lot, walking path and visitor center.
The JACL Washington, D.C. office worked with Sens. Daniel K. Inouye and Dianne Feinstein as well as Rep. Mike Honda to ensure the inclusion of camp preservation elements in the 2010 budget.
“The camp preservation funding included in next year’s budget will enable the nation to enhance its understanding of this unfortunate time in American history when civil rights were ignored,” said Floyd Mori, JACL national director. “Much more in terms of educational programs will be made available to students and citizens alike as facilities are developed and artifacts preserved.”
On the Web
www.jaclhawaii.org
www.jacl.org
|