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THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y.
MINETA
SECRETARY OF
TRANSPORTATION
Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Inaugural Service and
Leadership Luncheon
WASHINGTON, D.C.
JUNE 10, 2003
12:15 PM
Thank
you, Rodney, for that very gracious introduction. It is always a pleasure to see
you.
There is one other place I would
like to see Rodney, and that is among the portraits of former Secretaries of
Transportation that hang in the hallway outside my office. There’s a big blank
space on the wall with Rodney’s name on it right now.
Rodney, you really do need to get that portrait painted.
I’m deeply honored to receive
this award today because the Boy Scouts have been an important part of my life
-- especially during my childhood and my teenage years.
And I know the things I learned
in Scouting, and the life-long friends I made, are an important part of the
person I’ve become.
As a kid growing up, you don’t realize the impact that
certain people or experiences will have on your life. But, as
an adult you gain a new perspective.
It will be no surprise to any of you when I say that my
experience, and that of my family, during the Second World War shaped much of
how I perceive the world.
But few people are aware, I suspect, of the role Scouting
played in my life, and the lives of other Japanese American boys, during those
years.
After the attack of the Empire of Japan on our naval
installation at Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese Americans were, to many of our
fellow Americans, the enemy.
We were different, they could not (or would not) understand
us. And few had any
interest in learning that the values we shared, and the commitment to this
country that we shared, far outweighed any differences they perceived.
One by one, almost every institution in the country turned
its back on us. There were exceptions, of course. Exceptions that I still remember with deep
gratitude.
The Society of Friends
-- the Quakers
-- opposed the internment and volunteered in large numbers to go into the
camps with us. In particular, many of the teachers at our
schools were Quakers.
The other exception, of course, was the Boy Scouts of
America.
When very few others would accept us, the Boy Scouts did.
When my family and I, along with another 11,000 Japanese
Americans, found ourselves at the Heart Mountain internment camp, just outside
the town of Cody, Wyoming, Scouting continued to be a part of my life.
We even planned a jamboree and invited the
Scouts from Cody to join us.
Former Senator Alan Simpson, who I met at
the jamboree, told me that at first, his troop resisted. They
were afraid of the prison-like atmosphere, and the “Japanese enemy”
inside. But their Scout leader said, “The
Scouts in that camp took the same oath we did and are Americans just like
us.”
Once the Cody Scouts met our troop, they
realized that we were just like them. We read the same comics, told the same
jokes, and were working on the same Scout goals.
That jamboree sparked a life-long
friendship, and more than thirty years later, Senator Simpson and I would find
ourselves serving together in Congress.
Alan was part of the successful effort to
pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which finally apologized for the
injustice of the internment of Japanese Americans during the war
-- something he
might not have done without the bridges of friendship that Scouting helped us
to build.
For my part, I know that my enduring faith
in this country, my faith that we could grow beyond the forces of fear and
prejudice that caused the internment, is based in no small part on the fact
that Scouting rose above those fears and prejudices.
I hope that principle of inclusion
-- that every boy in
America can benefit from being a part of Scouting
-- is one which all of us here never forget.
And, I will always be grateful, that as a young man, when I needed their support, Scouting didn’t let me down.
It is truly a great honor to
receive this award.
God Bless you and God Bless
America!
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