By Judah Breitbach
“All of us, unless you’re a first American, have an immigration story like mine; we all have stories of diversity” said Rep. Monica Jurado Stonier, D-Vancouver, of her Japanese-Latino-American heritage, “we are children of people who have come to this country looking for opportunity, fleeing persecution.”
The Washington State House of Representatives passed House Resolution (H.R.) 4613 Wednesday, February 15.
H.R. 4613 gives formal acknowledgment to the unconstitutional containment of Japanese-Americans after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive order 9066 allowing the U.S. Military to round up Japanese immigrants to be kept in internment camps.
The resolution was preceded by a Japanese-American color guard comprised of U.S. Military veterans.
The significance of the circumstance was not lost on the House, after Stonier, the sponsor of the resolution, gave a moving talk on the meaning of the decision for her personally, as well as precedent for President Trump’s recent signing of Executive Order 13769, the immigration ban.
“Our flag flies in remembrance of patriotism. Of remembering a wrong in this country. A time when we did not get it right. A time we must remember so that as we move forward we will not make the same mistake again,” said Stonier in opposition to Trump’s Executive Order, “no wall, no ban, no resolution can ever get in the way of our nation’s memory of when we got it wrong.”