The National Youth/Student Council of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL NY/SC), the youth arm of the oldest and largest Asian Pacific American civil and human rights organization in the United States, calls upon Secretary Ken Salazar of the United States Department of Interior and members of Congress to revise plans for a power line which would run through the Minidoka National Historic Site in Idaho. While a power line can bring much-needed energy to the citizens of Idaho and Nevada, the JACL NY/SC believes that the power line has the capability to permanently and negatively impact a piece of America’s collective history. As descendants of nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who were forcibly interned in ten internment camps and United States Department of Justice camps during World War II, the JACL NY/SC feels strongly about preserving and protecting the integrity of those sites. The Minidoka National Historic Site serves as a crucial reminder to all Americans of how fragile our Constitution can be in times of crises, and that we must be vigilant and true to the principles of our nation so that this episode is never repeated.
