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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, May 7, 2002

Inouye warns of civil liberty threat for Arab Americans

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Arab Americans face threats similar to those of Japanese Americans who were wrongly interned during World War II, Sen. Daniel Inouye has warned.

"Today, there are many fellow Americans, especially Arab Americans ... who have experienced to some degree what we Japanese Americans experienced in the early 1940s," Inouye, 77, said Sunday at Seattle Central Community College. "I know that these are difficult times for those who are followers of Islam," he said, adding that "Americanism is not and never was a matter of race and ancestry."

Inouye, D-Hawai'i, who fought in World War II, spoke at a celebration of civil liberties on the 60th anniversary of the Japanese American internment. Japanese Americans in Hawai'i — like Inouye — were mostly allowed to remain in their communities, but those living on the West Coast were sent to camp.

"This nation not only acknowledged those decisions as mistakes," Inouye said, "but most importantly issued an apology."