Assembly OKs Resolution on Internment After Skirmish

Igniting acrimonious debate, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) on Thursday attacked a resolution calling for California schoolchildren to be taught that the Japanese internment during World War II was a violation of human rights, not an act of military necessity.

Ferguson, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and veteran of three wars, touched an angry nerve among his colleagues when he stood during a full Assembly session and shouted his objections to a resolution that blamed the internment on “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.”

“I don’t mind you saying that it was a failure of political leadership for Franklin Roosevelt,” he said in a slap at the Democrats, “but what you’re saying is that the brave men and women of this country--your fathers and mothers and your grandfathers--were a bunch of racists. And that’s why they did this.”

“Of course they made a bad decision,” Ferguson said. “It was a terrible thing to do. But 50 years (later), sitting in this chamber, when the biggest risk in your lives is getting reelected or safe sex, what right do you have to question the motives of your fathers and mothers and your grandfathers and uncles?”

Ferguson’s objections touched off an unusually emotional verbal skirmish, during which fellow lawmakers ganged up on the Orange County conservative and accused him of trying to whitewash history.

The strongest condemnation came from Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento), whose wife was placed in a Japanese internment camp when she was 4-years-old.

“I hesitate to say that your opinion is contemptible and I will not,” Isenberg said in a tight voice. “I will say this: It is deeply offensive to every single piece of what this country is about and you should be ashamed.”

The fight was over a non-binding resolution, sponsored by Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-South San Francisco), that calls on school officials and textbook manufacturers to revise accounts of the internment and describe it as a mass violation of human rights. Such an “accurate and objective” account of how the government imprisoned 110,000 Japanese would omit the traditional excuse of national security, the resolution says.

The Assembly gave final approval to the resolution by a bare 41-10 vote in the 80-member body, with most Democrats voting for it and many Republicans abstaining.

Before the vote, Ferguson--perhaps best known for his attempts to have Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), a former anti-Vietnam War demonstrator, declared a traitor and ousted from the Assembly--stood up to ask for a one-week postponement so he could rally veterans groups against the resolution.

Claiming he was “sick of this liberal trashing of America,” Ferguson fumed at what he said was the ungrateful second-guessing of his younger peers.

“Perhaps all of the 17- and 18-year-old kids who joined and fought for you, that was the dumbest decision we ever made, maybe,” said Ferguson, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. “Maybe by now you’d all be speaking Japanese or maybe you’d all be speaking German by now.

‘Carefully Worded’

“Yes, we did make some dumb decisions, but who are you to sit here and call your parents racist because they made a decision that they thought was important and needed at the time?”

Speier parried Ferguson’s objections by pointing out that her resolution was “carefully worded” to reflect the findings of a special federal commission convened by former President Reagan to study the Japanese internment.

“What we’re saying to our young people is, ‘Yes, we do make mistakes,’ Mr. Ferguson,” Speier said. “We have made mistakes in many wars. We make mistakes every single day of our lives and we can’t be ashamed of that fact.”

Here is the roll call by which the Assembly voted final passage of the Japanese internment resolution on Thursday, 41 to 10:

Democrats for (39): Bane, Bates, Brown, Burton, Calderon, Campbell, Chacon, Condit, Connelly, Cortese, Costa, Eastin, Eaves, Epple, Farr, Floyd, Friedman, Hannigan, Harris, Hauser, Hayden, Hughes, Isenberg, Johnston, Katz, Killea, Klehs, Lempert, Moore, Murray, O’Connell, Peace, Roybal-Allard, Sher, Speier, Tanner, Tucker, M. Waters, N. Waters.

Republicans for (2): Chandler, Woodruff.

Democrats against (1): Clute.

Republicans against (9): Baker, D. Brown, Ferguson, Frizzelle, Harvey, Mountjoy, Pringle, Seastrand, Wyman.

Not voting or absent (29): Allen (R-Cypress), Areias (D-Los Banos), Bader (R-Pomona), Bentley (R-El Cajon), Bronzan (D-Fresno), Elder (D-San Pedro), Felando (R-San Pedro), Filante (R-Greenbrae), Frazee (R-Carlsbad), Hansen (R-Santa Rosa), Hill (R-Whittier), Johnson (R-La Habra), Jones (R-Fresno), Kelley (R-Hemet), La Follette (R-Northridge), Lancaster (R-Covina), Leslie (R-Carmichael), Lewis (R-Orange), Margolin (D-Los Angeles), McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), Mojonnier (R-Encinitas), Nolan (R-Glendale), Polanco (D-Los Angeles), Quackenbush (R-Saratoga), Roos (D-Los Angeles), Statham (R-Oak Run), Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), Wright (R-Simi Valley).