Japanese-American Internment Marker - Salem, Oregon
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ddtfamily
N 44° 56.141 W 123° 01.864
10T E 497549 N 4975806
Place of Reflection on the campus of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon
Waymark Code: WMFH5T
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 10/20/2012
Views: 1
In 1942, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States entry into World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced relocation of persons from "military zones" as determined appropriate by the Secretary of War. Ultimately about one-third of the United States (primarily in the west) became considered a "military zone" and the persons selected for removal from this zone were primarily those of Japanese descent. Approximately 110,000 Japanese-Americans and Japanese nationals were forcibly removed to internment camps.
Per Wikipedia: "In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the exclusion orders, while noting that the provisions that singled out people of Japanese ancestry were a separate issue outside the scope of the proceedings. The United States Census Bureau assisted the internment efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on Japanese Americans. The Bureau's role was denied for decades, but was finally proven in 2007.
In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation said that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". The U.S. government eventually disbursed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned and their heirs."
The removal of Japanese-American students from Willamette University is memorialized by a marker, placed in front of the Mark O. Hatfield Library. The marker notes the picturesque landscaping in front of the library as a "Place of Reflection."
The students relocated in 1942 under the executive order were victims of discrimination based on national origin, a human rights violation that Civil Rights advocates fought to eliminate in the decades to come. The students gave up what should have been some of the best years of their lives and the marker memorializes that sacrifice.
Marker Text:
THIS PLACE OF REFLECTION
IS DEDICATED IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE
JAPANESE-AMERICAN STUDENTS FORCED BY
THE GOVERNMENT TO LEAVE WILLAMETTE
UNIVERSITY IN 1942 DURING WORLD WAR II.
REIKO AZUMANO HIDETO TOMITA
KENJI KURITA MAYE OYE UEMURA
KATE KYONO EDWARD UYESUGI
TOM OYE TAUL WATANABE
HENRY TANAKA YOSHI YOSHIZAWA Dedicated April 1, 2011
