President Biden released a statement Sunday commemorating the 81st anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which ordered the incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese-American citizens during World War II.
The order was signed by then-president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, and was issued over two months after the attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii by Japanese Imperial forces.
In his statement, President Biden stated the order "ushered in one of the most shameful periods in American history." He also noted that despite the forced incarceration, nearly 33,000 Japanese-American citizens served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the war.
"While their own families were behind barbed wires, Japanese Americans fought in defense of the nation’s freedom with valor and courage," the statement reads. "The incarceration of Japanese Americans reminds us what happens when racism, fear, and xenophobia go unchecked."
8,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated at the Topaz Camp set up in Delta. Last year, a museum detailing the stories of those incarcerated was opened 14 miles from where the camp stood in time for the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066.
