Lawmakers in the state House of Representatives paused in their business Monday to honor Japanese Americans who were uprooted from their West Coast homes and sent to internment camps during World War II.
One of those detention centers was Camp Harmony in Puyallup where the Washington State Fairgrounds now stand.
Puyallup Representative Kelly Chambers says the conditions were horrific.
“Crammed into makeshift barracks, families faced harsh conditions and humiliation for a hundred and thirty-seven long days. Work was hard, privacy was non-existent, food was basic, sanitation was mediocre.”
Republican Representative Eric Robertson of Sumner called President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 a “grave injustice based on fear and war.”
“Our country has learned and apologized for these misguided acts and our collective political failure. Grave injustices, atrocity. We remember today so that we not make the mistakes of the past.”
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