A little over a week ago, John Christgau (author of Tricksters in the Madhouse, The Gambler and the Bug Boy, the upcoming Kokomo Joe and others), testified before Congress, and we here at the University of Nebraska Press asked him to write a guest blog about his experience doing so. Here’s what he had to say:

The weekend before last, I testified with others at a hearing in DC before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.  The issue was H.R. 1425, or the “Wartime Treatment Study Act,” a proposed and long-overdue bill that would establish two fact-finding commissions. The first would study the internments and restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on certain European Americans and European Latin Americans during World War II. The second would study government policies limiting the ability of Jewish refugees to come to the United States before and during the war.  I was asked to testify because my book ENEMIES (which will be republished by Bison Books this September) was the first book on the subject of so-called “enemy aliens” during World War II.  The hearing was a gratifying yet disturbing experience. 

It was gratifying to draw congressional attention to the Alien Enemy Control Program (AECP), which led to the little-known detention and internment of over 30,000 German, Italian, and Japanese aliens and their families during the war.  Although the U.S. government has formally studied and recognized the mistreatment of Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II, no commission has been established to study the treatment of enemy aliens.  Several former internees or members of their families presented moving testimony on the scars left by the AECP.  All of the members of the subcommittee seemed deeply affected by that personal testimony.

However, it also appears that President Obama’s call for bipartisanship on the Hill has not taken hold. It remains to be seen whether a polarized Congress will create a commission to study World War II issues and help us understand how not to make the same mistakes again. 

Interested? For our readers in the Pacific Northwest, John will read from Kokomo Joe and will sign copies at the dates/times/locations:

Sunday, April 5, 2:00 p.m., White River Valley Museum, Auburn, WA

Monday, April 6, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m., Woodward Canyon Winery, Lowden, WA

Monday, April 6, 5:00 p.m., Book & Game, Walla Walla, WA