Ken Hayashi, chairperson of the Orange County Japanese American Citizens League, testified before the Commission with what he called “mixed emotions” — frustration at having to prove the injustice of incarceration, and gratitude for the rare chance to speak before a federal body. His testimony combined personal memory, financial loss, and a call for democracy to face its failures.

• Prejudice Before the War: As a child and young man, endured racial slurs (“dirty Jap,” “go back where you came from”), and saw his parents barred from citizenship under the 1924 Exclusion Act.

• Pearl Harbor & Executive Order 9066: At 23, head of a family of seven in Tacoma, Washington, he was forced to abandon college and his gas station business when the order came.

• Financial Loss: The family received only a few hundred dollars for their possessions and equipment. He estimated their total loss at more than $35,000 in income and property.

• Camp Conditions: Described grim train transport, tar-paper barracks with cracks, dust storms, insects, smelly outhouses, and meager pay for internees — $12 to $19 a month for camp jobs like reporting for the newsletter.

• Faith in America: Despite hardship, all the men in his family served in the U.S. Army; one brother was wounded with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

• Call for Redress: Declared that “a great democracy can admit its mistakes,” and urged Congress to provide meaningful restitution for wrongs committed against loyal citizens.