WHEREAS, the Presidential issuance of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, placed in motion the uprooting and internment of approximately 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese descent resulting in serious violations of their human rights as well as inestimable personal and material losses; and,

WHEREAS, no hearings or trials were held prior to February 19, 1942, no credible claims of wrongdoing were ever lodged against these innocent victims who were uprooted for more than three and one half years, blatantly violating constitutional guarantees and depriving them of their human rights; and

WHEREAS, we believe that violence takes many forms among which are oppression, denial of justice and a violation of personhood,* and have committed ourselves to work forthrightly for liberation, justice and peace in ways that respect the life and potential of every person and the whole human family;* and

WHEREAS, many among us struggles in the 1940's for the rights of these interned people and sought to serve through the Farmersville Work Camp, Manzanar Relocation Camp, New York City and Chicago Brethren Ministry to resettlers, and

WHEREAS, a U.S. commission on Wartime relocation and Internment is now conducting hearings and is empowered to recommend remedies to the congress of the United States;

THEREFORE the Church of the Brethren General Board meeting in Elgin, Illinois, on the 11th of October, 1981, feels compelled to review this sad period of our history; and

BE IT RESOLVED that we encourage this special Commission to call upon the Congress of the United States to:

1. Acknowledge as a nation that the actions taken against American citizens and legal residents of Japanese ancestry during 1942-46 were wrong and contrary to the Constitution of the United States.
2. Make just redress.
3. Enact safeguards and thus provide a lasting memorial so that the arbitrary governmental repression will never again victimize any group of people in the United States.
4. Signal to all the people of the world through such actions that the United States does indeed carry out in practice the ideals embodied in our declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that we call upon the staff of the General Board to convey this resolution to the President of the United States, appropriate members of the congress of the United States, and members of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment.

*Annual Conference Policy Statement, Justice and Nonviolence, June 1977.