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“No racial profiling”

Well, there's no question that right after September 11th they were saying, "Take all these Arab Americans and Muslims and put them in camp." And I'm going, "I don't believe this. What am I hearing?"

And so as we were putting together the security measures right after, on September 11th, and aviation security was in the Department of Transportation. And so on September 12th there was a cabinet meeting, and it was with the, the members of the Democratic/Republican leadership from the Congress. And towards the end of the meeting, Congressman David Bonior from Michigan who was the Democratic Whip, said, "Mr. President, we have a very large population of Arab Americans in Michigan, and they're very concerned about what's happening, and they're very concerned about what they're hearing on radio, television, reading in the paper about some of the security measures that might be taken relating to transportation." And the President said, "David, you're absolutely correct. We are also concerned about this, and we want to make sure that what happened to Norm in 1942 doesn't happen today."

And so that was on Wednesday, the next day, September 12th, and so I got back to the DOT and I told my staff about it. So I said, "One of the things we're gonna have to make sure we do is no racial profiling." And so I, by Monday I came out with our "no racial profiling." I never went back to the White House to clear it before issuing the "no racial profiling." But the chief of staff, Andy Card, called and said, "That was a good statement," and said, "You'll have the President's backing on this."


governments politics

Date: July 4, 2008

Location: Colorado, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Norman Mineta was born on November 12, 1931 in San Jose, California. He and his family were incarcerated at the Heart Mountain internment camp during World War II.

He began his political career when he was appointed to a vacant San Jose City Council seat in San Jose and was elected to the seat the following term, followed by vice mayor and then becoming Mayor of San Jose in 1971.

Mineta served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995 and was a key figure behind the passage of H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which officially apologized for and redressed the unconstitutional, mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

In 2000, he became the first Asian American to hold a post in the presidential cabinet when President Clinton appointed Mineta as his Secretary of Commerce. The following year, President George W. Bush appointed him Secretary of Transportation, the only Democrat in Bush's cabinet, where he served as the longest serving Secretary of Transportation since the position was created in 1967. (December 2011)

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