By RONALD K. IKEJIRI
Quoting directly from news reports, “Jimmy Carter, 99, remains present more than a year into hospice care, his grandson Jason Carter said this week — though his time left remains uncertain.”
Speaking at the annual Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum on May 14, Jason said that 15 months after the former president terminated medical intervention, “he really is, I think, coming to the end,” adding, “there’s a part of this faith journey that is so important to him, and there’s a part of that faith journey that you only can live at the very end and I think he has been there in that space.”
Jimmy Carter is the oldest living former president in our country’s history.
Rekindling of Journey of Faith
As it appears President Carter is nearing the end of his “journey of faith,” it is important to remember that 43 years ago at a White House signing ceremony, he that President Carter rekindled the ”journey of faith” for the American Japanese community with the creation of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) public law in mid-1980.
The faith that Americans of Japanese ancestry had in their U.S. Constitution and governmental institutions was tested and unresolved with the signing Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The importance and significance of the actions of Jimmy Carter are historically too often overlooked.
Even though Jimmy Carter in 1980 signed the bill to create the commission:
- Most remember that President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
- ?Most remember that President George H.W. Bush apologized to those that were unconstitutionally imprisoned and granted the payment of $20,000 for each living internee.
- Yet, without the creation of the CWRIC, the federal government would never have had the evidentiary basis of race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership as the causes of the mass incarceration, and redress would NOT have been delivered to the Congress and the Reagan Administration.
Without the commission, the physical, emotional, and constitutional wrongs suffered and endured by the American Japanese community would not have been heard at commission hearings across the U.S.
The commission hearings gave voice to the American Japanese community that had been silenced during time of war and after the war by an uncommon resiliency that is unique to the Japanese cultural traditions of gaman, to endure the unbearable.
In all senses, the payment of redress in dollars, while consistent with the American Anglo-Saxon traditions, was not the true remedy.
The true remedy is the commission hearings, where Issei and Nisei and Sansei could speak with representatives of the American government about what they endured physically, emotionally, and financially as a result of Executive Order 9066.
White House Signing Ceremony
Most public bills are signed into law in the absence of any ceremony, most commonly in the early morning or late afternoon in the Oval Office without the presence of the sponsors of the bill or the press. Merely, a news release that the president had signed Public Law 1234 into law would be announced.
Then just how did the signing of the commission bill warrant a White House signing ceremony?
While it is not current common knowledge, Sen. Daniel Inouye would enjoy one-on-one weekly meetings over lunch with President Carter at the White House to discuss national and international political and security issues and policies. Because Sen. Inouye sat on important defense and intelligence committees, President Carter was able to exchange ideas about consequences if he pursued certain policies domestically or internationally.
Southern Words of Endearment
Through these personal one-on-one meetings, Sen. Inouye and President Carter enjoyed a relationship of mutual respect and trust that transcended party politics. Both served in the military, and essentially came from backgrounds where their ancestral roots came from the dirt as farmers.
President Carter’s formal name is James Earl Carter, Jr. But being a product of the South and from Georgia, he wished to be known with the endearing name of “Jimmy” in place of the formal name James.
Consequently, because of the nature of their personal relationship, “Jimmy” would, as a Southern gesture, call Sen. Inouye not “Daniel” or “Dan” but “Danny.”
For those that knew Sen. Inouye, you could call him “Dan” but NEVER “Danny.” The senator never shared with me why he did not want to be called “Danny,” and I never asked why. I always addressed Sen. Inouye as “Sen. Inouye.”
Towards Signing the Commission Bill
As it appeared the Senate through the leadership of Sen. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D-Hawaii), with the support of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Sen. Sam Hayakawa (R-Calif.), and through the leadership of the majority leader, Rep. Jim Wright (D-Texas), and Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose), and support of Rep. Robert T. Masui (D-Sacramento), it was likely that Congress would be passing a bill establishing the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians.
Thus, Sen. Inouye, during one of the luncheon meetings in the spring of 1980 with President Carter, raised the issue of the president’s “pleasure” on such a bill should it be presented to him for consideration.
(In 1978 when I first arrived in Washington, D.C. as the Washington representative for the JACL, Sen. Inouye advised me to “never ask a member of Congress if they WILL VOTE for a certain bill.” Instead, he advised that you must always give the member of Congress an out to not directly answer your question, and give them room to respond and not corner them into a position. So always seek their “pleasure.”)
President Carter’s response to senator’s inquiry of the president’s “pleasure” on the commission bill was that he without reservation would sign the bill and because of the important and significant civil rights and constitutional issues he would do so at a formal White House signing ceremony to bring attention to the importance of the work of the commission to the American public. Thus, the White House signing ceremony in 1980.
The Commission
After holding hearings across the country in 1981, the CWRIC issued its report and findings to Congress, President Reagan and the American people. It was well documented that the government’s actions were a result of race prejudice, war hysteria and failure of political leadership under the guise of military necessity.
By signing the commission bill, President Jimmy Carter showed the American people and the world community that the United States is not only a nation of democratic ideals, but confident in its own Constitution to right wrongs, even though it may take over 47 years to do so.
Over the years, Feb. 19, the Day of Remembrance, has been observed as a day where the faith of American Japanese was tested.
Jimmy Carter remains the only central political leader alive today that was instrumental to the redress of the events from Feb. 19, 1942 suffered by the American Japanese community by enabling the creation of the commission in 1980.
I trust that in the future, appropriate observances will be held in honor of Jimmy Carter, an American president who had extraordinary political leadership and courage that rekindled that faith in America and its Constitution not only for the American Japanese community but for America.
Thank you, Jimmy Carter. May your journey of faith continue …
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Ronald K. Ikejiri served as JACL Washington representative from 1978 to 1984. He is also a former member of the Gardena City Council.