The hurt has subsided, but there is anger in Representative Michael Honda's voice when he says his family was singled out because "we looked like the enemy."
Honda, a California Democrat, was talking about the detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II. But he said he could just as easily have been describing the experience of people of Middle Eastern descent in the two weeks since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Arab-Americans have been stopped by police, forced to leave airplanes and, in some cases, subjected to violence.
Honda, a freshman, and fellow Representative Robert Matsui, say they feel a special duty to speak out against harassment of Arab-Americans following the terrorist attacks because of their families' experiences during World War II.
"We have a particular responsibility based upon a unique experience," said Honda, 60, who was moved with his parents from California's Central Valley to a compound in Amache, Colorado, ringed with barbed wire and armed guards.
Matsui said he shuddered when he heard the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks compared to the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It's not that he found the analogy inapt. Rather, he said, it was a reminder of what can happen to civil liberties in times of crisis.
"In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, no one spoke out," Matsui said.
Both said they have been pleased by the denunciation by President George W. Bush and other officials of threats and attacks against Arab-Americans.
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