Internment Camps Could Happen Again

During World War II, 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps. Former Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Commerce, and Congressman Norm Mineta was one of the 14,000 to live in a Wyoming camp called Heart Mountain.

Secretary Mineta spoke at Hogan Lovells this week in honor of Asian-Pacific Heritage Month, saying "We all have to be vigilant in protecting our constitutional rights." The jump to condemn one ethnic background isn't an isolated incident—and the Supreme Court decision upholding internment camps, Korematsu, has never been overturned. In the aftermath of 9/11, Mineta says he immediately heard calls for not allowing Arab-Americans and Muslims on aircraft. Not wanting his experiences to be repeated, he put a premium on protecting other people's rights. Mineta remembers the evacuation notice in '42 mandating that "all Japanese persons, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated." As a result, he says "I cherish the word 'citizen' today."

Mineta spoke with panelists VENG Group partner Vincent Eng, Asian Americans Advancing Justice president Mee Moua, and Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation chair Shirley Ann Higuchi, flanked by Hogan Lovells moderators. The panel followed a documentary about the internment camps called Witness: The Legacy of Heart Mountain, which features Mineta and others. In the film, LA Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, whose parents met at Heart Mountain, says he keeps a painting of it in his chambers to recall "what can happen if we're not paying attention."