Welcome to all of you. The asking is who are so generous to make this program partial. Marcia, barney and lee, welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here and welcome to all our young visitors from Washington Area schools. So nice to have you here. And welcome of course to the cspan audience that will be watching this in the future. Who among you has never been in this library . Ok, quite a few of you. Well in the event you have not been in this building before, welcome to the Worlds Largest live every. The greatest and most extensive Cultural Institution on the planet. The nations very own, your very own library of congress. It was founded in 1800, not long after the founding of this country. It was conceived as a place that would furnish congress and the American Government with the information it needed as it carried out duties of representing all of us. Initially the library was housed in the u. S. Capitol which sits across the street from here. I hope he sought when you arrived. In 1813, the british army invaded washington and the Capital Building caught fire. It was engulfed in the flames. All the libraries books were burned to ashes. Well expresident Thomas Jefferson who owned the largest collection of books in the country at the time, almost 7000 volumes sitting at his house, offered to sell the books to the Us Government to refill the library shelves. Congress jumped at the chance and now you can see jeffersons own book, those original volumes, sitting at the very heart of this building. Since the arrival of those books, 6487 of them, the library has grown to have more than 100 million publications and objects in over 450 languages. The shelves on which these items sit measure 833 miles. That is a very long shelf of books going from right where youre sitting all the way down the street, across town, down the beltway, down route 95, all the way to miami. It is the single most thorough collection of holdings in the world. A very inspiring american. A man whose childhood was robbed at him from a child of a time of war and yet a boy whose resilience, strength of spirit and indomitable sense of justice led him to use that difficult0s time in his life to learn what he needed to learn to make sure no one else suffered what he suffered ever again. His name is norman mineta, he was born in san jose, california and he enjoyed ten years of a happy childhood before he, and a population of 120,000 more japanese americans like him, were taken from their homes and held prisoner in internment camps around the country. It was because the United States was at war with japan but it had little to do with them. They were americans. He its a model on how to turn adversary into something positive, something that contributes to the wellbeing of us all. Here to tell you that story is the author of a wonderful new book about secretary mineta wass childhood, shes Andrea Warren and her book is called enemy child. Here to release some of his personal experience and his point of view is secretary mineta, himself, we are very fortunate to have him with us today. Andrea will give you a brief description of the book after which monica hesse, a writer herself with the Washington Post and the author of a wonderful book about children during wartime called the war outside will moderate the discussion. Each school represented here will receive a copy of andreas book for its library, so we are grateful to andreas publisher for that gift and deeply indebted to the eskin family for making this presentation possible. As we head into thanksgiving week, here is a story that tells us we have much to be thankful for. There are heroes among us who make this country a better place. Please welcome secretary mineta, and two wonderful writers, Andrea Warren, and monica hesse. [applause] i am Andrea Warren and it is a pleasure to be with you today. Imagine, each one of you, that it is 1941 and you are a boy, 10 years old, living in the small city of san jose in northern california, where the weather is beautiful all year round. You love baseball, comic books, and going to the movies with your friends. You have three older sisters and an older brother who all dote on you and parents you love very much. Your father has a successful Insurance Agency and you live in a lovely stucco house in san joses japan town. Both of your parents were born in japan. You were born in this country, but like your parents, you are considered japaneseamerican. Japan is causing trouble in the south pacific, but then hitlers causing trouble in europe and all of that is far away. For you, life is good. Until it isnt. On december 7, 1941, japan attacked america, bombing its military base at pearl harbor. 2500 american soldiers and sailors died, almost as many as died in the twin towers on 9 11. You see papa cry, because he loves america. How could the land of his birth have attacked the land of his heart . The public is outraged by pearl harbor and america quickly declares war on japan. Within days, the u. S. Is also at war with germany and italy. World war ii has begun. It is a horrible time for you and your family and your friends. Everyone is instantly suspicious of japaneseamericans. The fbi swoops in and arrests community leaders, teachers, journalists, farmers, priests, business owners, anyone and inside, men and women are sent to prisons far from home. The Japanese American Community is left without leadership, without anyone to speak out for them. At school, classmates glare at you and accuse you of bombing pearl harbor. They call you a jab like its a dirty word, an inside you burn with shame. Every japanese american you know is loyal to america and wants america to win the war. Youre brother albert wants to serve in the army. If you werent so young you wouldnt list. Except that now the government and saying, if you are japanese american, you cannot serve. There is widespread fear that japan will invade the west coast of the United States and a fear that japanese americans like you, who live along the coast, will assist them. 125,000 of this countrys 150,000 japanese americans live close to the Pacific Ocean. You stand up because of your parents and your name. Tend to live together in communities like japan town so you are easy to find. All of you are now required to register with authorities. Then the government imposes an 8 pm to 6 pm curfew. Some peoples Bank Accounts are frozen, leaving them unable to pay their bills. Their businesses are padlocked. Khoury license to share to sell insurance is not renewed. The fbi searches peoples homes looking for anything that could be useful to the enemy, should it invade the coast. A ceremonial sort, a flashlight. Then you are forbidden for moving away. Finally, you learn that you will be sent to special camps for the duration of the war. Supposedly to protect you from a hostile public, but as you really know, to be certain that you cannot do anything to aid the japanese. You do not understand what these camps are or where they are. And being forced from your homes is very frightening, but you have been taught to Obey Authority and most of you agree that you will not resist. You will do whatever best help with the war effort. Announcements are posted in Public Places telling people that they will be evacuated, often giving them only a few days notice to sell or give away everything. Pets are not allowed to go, and you have to leave your dog behind, and this breaks your heart. Then, you see your strong papa cry again, because he is head of the family and responsible for taking care of you, and he is unable to stop any of this from happening. You try not to burden, or not to burden your parents with your own fears, so you stay silent. On evacuation day, you wear your best clothes and you each carrying two suitcases. That is all you are allowed. You are also holding your beloved baseball bat and glove, and a military policeman walks up to you and takes away your bath, stating that it could be used as a weapon. That bat was a gift from papa and your prized possession. And now its. Gone along the west coast, japanese americans board buses and trains headed to one of the ten counts the government has built. As you will learn, these are primitive camps, all in isolated, inhospitable places around the world. The country. On the long train journey, you sit quietly, doing what you are told. Finally, you arrive at a place called heart mountain in wyoming. You are 1000 miles from home. You look around with shock. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire, because this is a prison camp. Guards in towers carry loaded weapons aimed at you. Your family is assigned one room in a poorly constructed barracks furnished only with iron cots. You have no furniture, no closet, no kitchen, no bathroom, no privacy. A single light bulb hangs from the ceiling. You stand in line for everything. You eat and mess halls and the food is bland and poorly cooked. Bathrooms offer no privacy and this is humiliating, especially for your mother who is very modest. The temperature dips as low as 30 below zero on winter nights. The wind howls constantly, swirling dust around. And you will learn, summers are better, but then you must watch out for rattlesnakes and black widow spiders, and always, there is dust and the wind blows and blows. These are not work camps. In fact, there is little work to do, and people have too much time on their hands. They are not death camps like the concentration camps on under hitler. But they are brutal in their own way. You are the enemy. You are prisoners. You are watched closely. You must do what you are told. So you go to school, and you join the boy scouts. Ive got a couple of slides out of order here, i am sorry. You play baseball. Everyone pitches into make the camps more livable, sharing their talents and skills with each other, and working together to grow crops on the arid land around the camp to subsidize food rations. The harvest is so successful that it is called the miracle of heart mountain. All in all, you will be away from san jose for three years. Some japanese americans will be away nearly four. By the end, many will be defeated. Broken. But not most and not you or your family. You have strong parents who accept their circumstances and make the best of things. They will help you to do this as well, and you will hang on to your humanity. But you will never forget what happened to you. When it is over, some folks have nothing to go back to. Their homes have been destroyed. No one will hire them. Your house is okay and papa will rebuild his business. But like everyone else, your family struggles for the next decade. There is still prejudice against japanese americans, and they are still ashamed that others thought they could be the enemy. You want to talk about all of this, but no one will. There is a conspiracy of silence. Back in school in san jose, you work hard just as you always have. You are well liked by other students and in high school, you are elected student body president. After college, you served in the korean war and are stationed in japan, where you connect with your japanese relatives and discover a pride in your past. When you return to san jose, you join your fathers insurance business. You mary. You have two sons. You are active in community organizations. You serve on the city council. Eventually, you run for mayor. You win and at age 40, you become the first Asian American elected mayor of a major american city. Then it is on to congress. And in all, you served ten terms, a total of 20 years in the house of representatives. You serve because you believe that Everyone Needs representation when decisions are made. Something japanese americans did not have. So you listen, and you help. You work long hours to get all the work done. The day comes when you and others in congress organized to seek justice for the wrongful internment of japanese americans during the war. No one was ever found guilty of a crime against america, and yet all of you still carry the stigma of being considered the enemy. This must change. You want for all japanese americans an apology and restitution. It takes years. Four for times, you introduced a bill in congress before finally passes and becomes known as the Civil Liberties act as the Civil Liberties act of 1988. Only then does healing begin. There were good citizens who didnt rise up to protest what was happening to their japanese american friends and neighbors in 1942, that if we speak out when we see someones Constitutional Rights being violated, if we act together, than we are Strong Enough to withstand any people, internal or external any evil, internal or external, that threatens to unravel this beautiful place that is america. For all of us, let me say thank you. applause this is a beautiful and richly researched book. The kind of what they can only come about from someone who has lived a beautiful and richly lived life. So, thank you to both of you for being here. We were talking backstage about how excited we are that most of the audience are middle schoolers, which andy and i agree are some of our favorite people. You are going to have a chance to ask questions in a little bit, so please think of smarter questions than i am about to ask. But i will ask the first question. Secretary mineta, you have been approached many times by writers wanting to tell your story, and i am curious what it was about andrea that made you want to talk to her, and i am curious from andrea about what you said to secretary mineta and what made you passionate about wanting to tell this story. First of all, there have been a number of approaches about writing a book, writing, what would you call, a movie made, but i did not want to do anything from which i would profit. So, with most people, i just said no. And andrea was talking about childrens books, and as we talked about it, this was the kind of educational tool that i thought would be very useful to young people, not knowing anything about the evacuation and internment of those japanese ancestry during world war ii. Knowing about her background as a writer and a researcher, i said sure, lets do the book. I was just so pleased with the outcome. Andrea, even though he talked a lot about it, she went ahead and did a lot of research on her own, and it makes it a terrific book. It is like what i would call a coffee table book, and yet it is geared to let us say, fifth to ninth graders, but it is something that is easily readable for everybody. What do you remember about approaching him and what you planned to say . I knew i wanted norman to be the center of the story. The first thing i wanted was to write a story about the japanese american internment. Since i write nonfiction history, what i do, as i always have a young person at the center of my story. I went to heart mountain to see the Interpretive Center that is on the site of the former heart mountain war relocation center, the internment camp. It was there that i learned about norms role in the Civil Liberties act of 1988. Being able to write a book about somebody who did something that great to give back to the Japanese American Community, is what pulled me in first. That was the first thing. The second thing was that norm was the perfect age. He was ten, 11 and 12 when he was going through this experience. Since i write for young readers, that made a lot of sense as well. The third thing is i love the arc of the story. He made a friend in the camp who was not japanese american. He was a boy from wyoming. He was also boy scouts like norm was. They met at a boy scout event in the camp and later, they both ended up being in congress at the same time and our dear friends to the stay. For me, as a writer, that beautiful arc. The fourth thing was a bonus. I did not know it when i started this project. When i approached norm about doing it, is meeting this very special person who has become such an important part of my life, and has taught me so many things, and has given me such a sense of not only gratitude for what he and the other japanese americans all went through and that they came through with the way they did, but a lot of faith in this country. We got through this and we will keep going with the other things that we are challenged by. Secretary mineta, you were about the same age many members of our audience were. I wonder how your family talked to you about what was happening at the time. How your parents explained what was going on. As andrea said, my dad loved this country. It came here by himself when he was 14 years old and came to love the United States. I only saw him cry three times. Once, was on the 7th of december when he could not understand why the land of his birth was attacking the land of his heart the second time was the day we left on may 29 1942, we left san jose to go to camp. The third time was when my mother passed away. In january, the last week of january 1942, he gathered the family together in the living room and said, i do not know what is going to happen to your mother and me. We are not u. S. Citizens. We are prohibited from becoming u. S. Citizens because of the oriental exclusion act of 1924. That all of you kids are citizens of the u. S. Always think of 5 45, north fifth street as your home, because no one can take that away from you. Little did he realize that on february 12th, president roosevelt with sign an executive order 9 06 six, delegating to the department of war, the ability to evacuate persons did not say german, japanese or retaliatory. He just said persons. So these big placards started going up on utility poles and sides of buildings. It said, attention, all those of japanese ancestry, alien and non alien i was a ten year old kid and i look at that sign. What is a non alien . My brother said, and he was nine years old, nine years older than me and he said, that is not. You i said im not an on alien, i am a citizen. He said that means the same thing. Why wont they call me a citizen . Maybe some kind of psychological warfare. To this day, i cherish the word citizen, because my own government would not use it to describe us. I dont know when the last time any of you stood on a chair, beat your chest and said, i am a proud non alien of the United States of america. I dont think you have. And yet, that is really what we are expected to do by our own government. We were not even referred to as citizens. What when i would add to that is that when you researched this history, i thought i knew a lot about american history. There was so much i did not know about this. The kinds of laws we have to exclude asians in this country, that went clear back into the 1800s when there was a lot of concern about it started with the chinese coming here and taking jobs from white people. This began a whole series of what are called the exclusion laws. By the time when norms father came, he came at just the right time, because after that, there was a new law that said japanese could not come anymore, because they were coming in large numbers toward along the west coast to work in agricultural fields. They were part of a gold rush, helped the railroads and so forth. And whites were getting concerned about their jobs. And california, they said japanese americans could not own property. They were not allowed to put it into their own names. But their children were born here as citizens. They would not allow the other agents to become citizens. That was another lot we had in this country at that time. But if you were born here, you were citizen. In norms families situation, his father, when he was ready to buy a house and set up a business, put it into the name of his daughter, the eldest child. And when she became 21 and the property passed to her. There is a scene in the book that starts off as funny and then supple little scary. The scene is that you go sledding as a young boy in heart mountain in the internment camp. You are sledding so fast, you accidentally shoot under the barbed wire where guards stop you, because you accidentally escaped the camp, and you are terrified. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about other incidents like that that start off is very normal american experiences, playing baseball or something, but against this backdrop of a prison. This injustice. We did not have snow in san jose. So we got to heart mountain of wyoming in november of 1942. Coldest of places. The wind was blowing. Here we are from california. Light clothing. Light jackets. Experiencing snow. Snow was something you drive through. It is not something you find on your doorsteps. So somewhere, a bunch of us found some we did not have slaves. We found these big Cardboard Boxes. We used those as our as your sled . Sled. Thank you. So here we are, going around, and all of a sudden, my Cardboard Box sled, instead of going this way, it went this way, and i swooped under the barbed wire fence. The barbed wire was probably about this high. I went under that, outside the camp perimeter. And about that time, the military cheap comes by, and picks up the four of us. We got taken to the jail. That was probably i was scared. But i was more scared about my father coming to pickmeup. So he told me i should not do that again. It was a very, very scary scene, because the military cheap happened to come by and petrol two of them. They picked us up and took us to the break. You thought they might shoot. You thats right. My good friend thought we were now look what you did to us. You showed some pictures of young people organizing baseball teams and i know that some other camps had, for example, language lessons or social clubs, requires. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about, in your research, what you learned about, the resilience of the prisoners and the things that they did to create a semblance of normal life in these imperfect circumstances. I think this is where the parents get so much credit. They were really concerned about their children. To continue their education. Things like boy scouts, girl scouts. They loved values of those programs and so japanese American Kids were involved in the. They were involved in music. There were so many things. They wanted life to seem as ordinary as it could be, even though the classrooms in the beginning, we skids were sitting on literally, orange crates. They did not have enough textbooks. Eventually, people who had skills with build desks and chairs. New textbooks will come in. The wyoming board of education did a good job in terms of the schooling of the kits in this camp. That was not true in all the camps by any means. The resilience of not only keeping life going. You had chores. Norman had to collect the coal every day for the little potbellied stove they had in the room. He helped with his mothers laundry. It was not easy. Everything had to be scrubbed in a tub. It had to carry the clothes in a basket to the laundry center. You had to stand in line to get in there. He would scrub the close. It take the wet clothes back to the snow and everything to the little room. Hang it up, and get it to all dry. All just basic work like that. But the fun part is, you had a couple movie theaters there. You can go there. There were dances, concerts. People would bring Musical Instruments with them. Ordered them from the sears catalog. Or a friend from home which sent them one. So you had bands and orchestras. Music was very important in the camps. There was flower arranging. You mentioned language classes. There were people playing chess and getting together. The kids left to dance. They were doing everything they could to keep peoples spirits up. People paid tremendous attention to how they looked. Keeping their close clean. Keeping them mended. The women could buy fabric at the camp store. Nobody had any money. Things were relatively cheap. They would so the latest fashions. Do their hair. Learn to ice skate while he was at heart mountain. Because they flooded the baseball fields. Then you had to get ice skates which not many could afford to do that. Money was a real issue for just about everybody. You are lucky if you had a few dollars a month to spend on these things. But just this, let us make life as inaudible iaea we were still the best of friends. And worked together on this abilities act and that is really interesting. I think you probably could have pulled it off on your own. He was very helpful because, on the senate side, he was very helpful in getting cosponsors of the bill and getting people to vote yes on hr4 for two. It was named for four two because the four 42nd regiment of combat team and the 100th battalion that served so well in europe during world war ii. The 442nd, for anyone who might not know, was an all japanese American Unit that was very decorated in the war. I wanted to ask about after the war, when you are returning home to a community that had expelled its japanese american citizens. What that reentry was like, and with the readjustment period was like after the war. We were very fortunate and san jose. First of all, mercury herald, and editorials at that time, saying because there were other communities where farms were being burned and arson and a lot of things were happening. They editorialized, saying, these are our friends and neighbors coming home. Please do not do anything to harm them. We were very fortunate in san jose. About 70 miles away, had a national unit. It got wiped out in the death march. There were intense feelings in salinas. So as japanese americans the first generation from japan, were coming back, they were being shot at. Farmers were being arson and. It was very different there compared to san jose where it was very peaceful and so we came back in 1946, and yet, about 1949, had become student body president and high school with 3 japanese american population. It was very different. Fresno, sacramento went through some very Serious Problems as well. Anti, i have heard people say about history, is that we are never really writing about the past but we are talking about a future and we are talking about history repeats itself. I wonder, as someone who is a student of it yourself, if you see residents in writing this time period and these experiences. What you think we should take of them and what we can learn Going Forward . There is no way to not see all we have to look do is look at our southern border. Everything that is going on there in terms of roadblocks. That we are putting up against people. The hatred that has been expressed over and over against Muslim Americans since 9 11. The Muslim Americans who live here they did not have anything to do with 9 11. But they look like the enemy. Its the very same kind of play. There is this public distrust, public hatred. And we see it. In america, weve seen it over and over. Immigrant groups coming in here. We all have the stories in our own pasts. We see the distrust. You see the prejudice and the bias. Sometimes, it feels like we really do not learn. And in a story like norms, it reminds us we have to be careful about our own government. I think this is one of the thing it is hardest and most important about the internment of the japanese americans. Two thirds were citizens because they were born here, but you have to remember that that other third, people are like, oh but they were not citizens. They were not citizens because we would not let them be citizens. They live here many many years. Norms father lived here for decades. He was a loyal american. He left this country deeply, and yet he was not allowed to become a citizen. He did not have protection of the constitution. But norm, it turns out, did not have it either. He should have been protected by it, and he was not. Yes, weve got this wonderful constitution in place, but it does not mean that in times of war or for whatever reason, that it will not be disregarded. So this is why i think the takeaway here is, we have to really watch our own government. We are this government. It is us and things can start getting out of hand fast. And what we thought to do, is speak up and speak out when it starts happening, and not enough people very few people did this for the japanese american. Eleanor roosevelt did it. She had her picture taken with japanese americans. She wrote in her columns about the italian americans, german americans, japanese americans. These are our fellow citizens. These are our friends and neighbors. Lets not forget that. Maybe she had some influence, but not nearly enough. People wonder why the italian americans and the german americans did not go into camps in larger numbers. Because thousands of them did and youve written a book about this, monica. Youve done all the research and you know about that how those people were treated. They had the advantage and it looked more like what america was supposed to look like. The japanese americans stood out. There was this real concern about that invasion of the west coast there were submarines in the Pacific Ocean and there were some incidents. But nothing to implicate japanese americans themselves, so we have really got to stay on top of this. People like my dad were an immigrant from japan, but he wanted to do something that helped in the war effort. So he applied to the university of chicago that was running a program for the army called the a as tp, Army Specialized Training program. Japanese to u. S. Army personnel. That is what my dad during world war ii. He was allowed to leave camp to go to chicago and be part of that program. He had asked for my mother and me to leave with him. The army said no at the time. So there are a lot of things that as a result of the evacuation and internment we were talking about what happened to us, making sure that it does not happen to somebody else in the future. And part of that whole action was to make sure that the same liberties act of 1988 was passed. And yet, our secretary of transportation on 9 11, and keep muzzling muslims off. Dont allow middle east earners to fly. And, even talked about rounding up middle eastern hours and putting them in camps. We were having a Cabinet Meeting on thursday september 13th with the house senate, democratic and republican leadership, and towards the end of that meeting, congressman from detroit said, that mister president , we have a very large middle eastern population. And muslim population. In michigan, and they are very concerned about all the rhetoric, in the Electronic Press and print media about banning travel for muslims and middle east earners, talking about rounding them up. President bush said, you are absolutely correct. We are equally concerned about that rhetoric, and we do not want to have happen today to muslims and middle east earners, what happened to norm in 1942. And that morning at 9 11, i had pulled three people out of acs. Aviation civil security, at the federal aviation administration. I was in the bunker at the white house. So i said, go over to my office and work with the deputy secretary, my chief of staff, to start putting together the new regiment for security for the airlines to go back into the air. When i asked them on tuesday afternoon, are you guys doing . They said, we are starting it out, and the first one of the top of the list is, no racial or ethnic profiling. I said wow, that will be a tough one. Then, when the president had said that on thursday, i called him back and said, we may have a chance to get this thing through. Keep it in their. Then i talked to the president on friday the 14th, because we were not ready to come out with a new regulations for our security to let the airlines go back into the air. The president said, keep it in there. And so he did. I think we have just a few minutes left, but i could stop stay here all day. I want to give others a chance here to. Are there any questions from the audience . We have microphones. I see a few hands right here in the center. If you could find these two young ladies with the microphone. Hello, i have a question for the author. If you would have, would you have interviewed a woman and a man and norman together and combine the book . I might have done that. It would have depended on the story. The first thing i wanted to do was tell the story of japanese american internment, and then find the right person the story would reveal that history. When i visited hard mountain, it was very much norms story that stood out for me. But there was nothing stopping me. Hes in some of my other books i used multiple characters and i certainly have used women, females, girls. This is just sort of the way the story came together. You have to be careful as an author, that you dont diffuse it too much. So it sort of depends on who your main character is. Norm had such a rich story that as i was reading about him and certainly as i started spending time with him to interview him, i knew i could tell more a concentrated story through him, because he had so much history to reveal. First of all, congratulate the person who asked this question. More importantly, i want to thank all the young people who are here. If i could digress for a minute to just saying, that you own