This memorial is located on the east side of the Colorado State Capitol. There are three plaques on the memorial and a fourth inside the State Capitol Building. They are as follows:
First plaque:
"Ralph L. Carr
Two-Term Governor of Colorado 1939-1943
Outspoken advocate for the protection of Americans of Japanese ancestry facing forced relocation and Internment under Federal order during World War II. Carr, the sole voice of dissent among Western governors wrote:
'When it is suggested that American citizens be thrown into concentration camps, where they lose all the privileges of citizenship under the Constitution, then the principles of that great document are violated and lost. If a man may be deprived of his liberty ... without proof of misconduct, without the filing of charges, and without a hearing, simply because men now living in the country where his grandfather was born have become active enemies of the United States, then we are disregarding the very principles for which this war is being waged against the Axis nations ...'
A Colorado native, a lawyer and a preeminent citizen of Colorado whose statesmanship and political courage transcend time and place."
Second plaque:
"AMACHE
A Federal Detention Camp in Colorado's Arkansas Valley during World War II in which U.S. citizens were interned without hearing or proof of misconduct or disloyalty.
(August 1942 - October 1945)
Ten such camps established under Presidential Executive Order 9066 confined 120,000 persons of Japanese descent - 77,000 of whom were American citizens - removed from their Pacific Coast homes in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. From the ranks of the dispossessed, who endured great hardship and humiliation, more than 16,000 of their sons and daughters, along with over 15,000 other Americans of Japanese descent from the Territory of Hawaii, served with distinction in the U.S. Armed Forces on battlefields in Europe and Asia. Their valor reflected uncommon strength of character and great faith in this nation of immigrants. They and their families have enriched our country beyond measure."
Third Plaque:
"THIS MEMORIAL RECOGNIZES PERSONS AND GROUPS SIGNIFICANT TO THE HERITAGE OF COLORADO
TO SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Colorado
A Remembrance of Governor Ralph L. Carr and These Americans Who Passed Through the Gates of Amache
Colorado Bar Association * The Japanese American Community * Citizens of the State of Colorado
Dedicated September 18, 1996"
Fourth plaque (inside the State Capitol Building):
"RALPH L. CARR
1887 - 1950
Governor of the State of Colorado 1939-1943
Dedicated to Governor Ralph L. Carr, a wise, humane man, not influenced by the hysteria and bigotry directed at Japanese-Americans during World War II. By his humanitarian efforts no Colorado resident of Japanese ancestry was deprived of his basic freedoms, and when no others would accept the evacuated West Coast Japanese, except for confinement in Internment Camps, Governor Carr opened the doors and welcomed them to Colorado. The spirit of his deeds will live in the hearts of all true Americans.
Presented October, 1974, by the Japanese community and the Oriental Culture Society of Colorado."
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