*EPF413 06/05/2003
Text: Armitage Praises Contributions of Asian Pacific Americans
(May 29 remarks at State Department APA Heritage Month event) (1620)

Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage praised the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) during an APA Heritage Month event at the State Department May 29.

Armitage discussed the national shame of Manzanar, a prison camp that housed Japanese-Americans during World War II, in contrast to the patriotic achievements of General Eric Shinseki. Shinseki, an American of Japanese descent, is about to complete his term as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army.

Following is the text of Armitage's May 29 remarks:

(begin text)

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Commemoration

Richard L. Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State
Benjamin Franklin Room Washington, DC
May 29, 2003

Thank you, Deputy Assistant Secretary Sison, for your remarks and for that kind introduction. I am delighted to have you all here -- members of the diplomatic community, fellow State Department colleagues, and in particular, I am honored that Secretary Mineta is here -- thank you, sir, for coming -- as well as our colleagues from across the government. And a little relieved, as well. With all the fulsome press lately about the ebb and flow of relations across the Potomac, the presence of too many uniforms at Foggy Bottom might stir rumors of a coup'd etat. Of course, that's the true power of bureaucrats. You don't know we've occupied your territory until we've already eaten all the hors d'oeuvres.

Truly, I am delighted that General Shinseki and our friends from the Pentagon could join us. Because what we celebrate and commemorate today is an appreciation for our colleagues of Asian and Pacific heritage, but also for the qualities that define our commonly held love of country and the compulsion we all feel to serve the public interest.

There is a place in the Owens Valley of California called Manzanar. Few of us may have heard of it, but I hope by the time you leave, you will find it difficult to forget. Certainly, Ansel Adams found the place memorable when he photographed it in 1944. And in many ways, the folio he produced is vintage Adams: austere and vast mountain ranges, slicing up suddenly out of a dry valley. A piece of moon or a smudge of cloud, filigreed across a backlit night sky. But Adams did something unusual -- for him -- at Manzanar. He also focused on the foreground, which he called a truly regrettable stain on the record of our democracy.

And so along with the landscapes, there are pictures of schoolgirls in saddle shoes, walking between the barbed wire and dusty barracks. There are the faces of men and women, the elderly and the young, a small sample of the 10,000 Americans who were held there. Because Manzanar was a prison camp. The only offense of its inmates was to be born to parents of Japanese descent. When all the occupants of Manzanar have resumed their places in the stream of American life, Adams wrote at the time, we know that the human challenge of Manzanar will rise insistently over all of America.

Manzanar today still stands as a monument to that human challenge, but also as a tribute to the resilience of the people who were held there and to their refusal to let the dream of America die. Because those prisoners did leave that place and nine others like it to rejoin the stream of American life. In cities and towns all over the country they became lawyers and shopkeepers, doctors and scholars. Thousands even became soldiers. Some left the camps to serve in the Army's 100th Infantry Battalion and the legendary 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit of its size in the history of the US Army. And in one truly remarkable case, a former internee at Heart Mountain, Wyoming, went on to become a powerful Member of Congress. Now he is a prominent Member of the Cabinet of the Administration of George W. Bush. And he is with us here today Secretary of Transportation, Norm Mineta.

In a sense, it is the memory of Manzanar and the example set by people such as Norm Mineta that can best remind those of us who work for the American people of our mission as public servants. Some of us will fight our country's wars. Some of us will tend to our diplomatic fronts. Some of us will protect the health and welfare of our people. But all of us have a solemn duty to safeguard the values and ideals that make us American. At no time is that more important than in wartime, when fear can make us forget who we are precisely at the moment when we most need to remember.

And so today, we celebrate that joyous tumult, the diversity that is our true source of strength as a nation. We celebrate the 12 million Americans whose ancestors, late and soon, came from many nations across Asia and the Pacific. Today, these are our neighbors and our coworkers. They are leaders in this Department, such as Michele Sison and Jack Chow. They are our friends and our fellow Americans. They are also Koreans, who originally came to this country 100 years ago, and Chinese, who first migrated here in the middle of the 19th century. They are from South Asia and Southeast Asia, the islands of the Pacific, from Fiji to the Philippines. And they are from Japan.

Indeed, it was just about 100 years after the first Japanese immigrants arrived in this country that President Roosevelt issued the Executive Order declaring all Japanese Americans to be enemy aliens, the order that would send so many to Manzanar and Heart Mountain. It was the same year that Eric Shinseki was born. And perhaps we can find in this story solace for difficult times. Consider that a man who was born in this country under the label of enemy alien is today one of our greatest patriots. And Japan itself has become one of our greatest allies.

Ric Shinseki's story started in small-town Hawaii, where he was raised on tales of service and courage, told by his uncles, who were veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. And so I suppose it came as no surprise to his friends and his family when he entered the West Point class of 1965. But I can tell you that no matter how much you think you are ready for it and at 22, you think you are ready for anything nothing really prepares you for war. So perhaps the first-hand horror of combat came as something of a shock to those young cadets, who were sent to Vietnam so soon after graduation. But Ric Shinseki quickly distinguished himself with his physical courage. What you should know, however, is that the medals and decorations he collected then and since don't tell the full story of his moral courage. They don't tell you about the long months of painful recovery in military hospitals. Many men might have lost faith in this country and even in themselves in such circumstances, but Ric Shinseki never even lost his resolve. And so at a time when others were leaving the army, he fought to stay in. He was willing to do whatever was necessary to serve the institution he had come to revere and the country he loved.

So he went on to a series of assignments. And while the graduate degree in English literature has surely been an asset, at the time, it was not necessarily a sign of career mobility for a soldier. But General Shinseki was undaunted. And indeed, the skill he showed as a soldier and his uncommon determination earned him promotions to positions of increasing responsibility, including command of the US Army in Europe and of peacekeeping and stabilization forces in Bosnia. While his dignity and his integrity have no doubt played a key role in his success, there is one other important source of strength in his life. And that is his partner and wife, Patty Shinseki. Patty, thank you for joining us today and for your support and your service to this nation.

In two weeks, General Shinseki completes his term as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army. He will be remembered as the rarest kind of leader: a combat-hardened warrior, one who knows what it means for the soldier in the field to fight and to win this nation's wars, but one who will also take his place alongside the army's great visionaries. People like George Marshall and Creighton Abrams. Indeed, true leadership is not just what you accomplish today and tomorrow, but the legacy you leave long after your tenure. General Shinseki has left a legacy of transformation that will make all Americans safer and more secure and one that will benefit every soldier in his beloved army for many years to come. General, you once told a group of 442nd veterans that they had been too modest and self-effacing but that it was time for all America to know about their tremendous contributions to the security of the nation. Well, I am delighted today to highlight your tremendous contributions to the security of the nation, to celebrate your career in the Army, and to thank you for your years of selfless devotion to the men and women who serve and to all Americans.

The theme of this year's Asian-Pacific Heritage Month is a salute to liberty. I can think of no more fitting person to offer such a salute than my friend, General Eric Shinseki. Sir, we are honored to have you among us today.

Released on June 5, 2003

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents