Haiku won’t be etched on
internee memorial

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A poem on the fate of Japanese-Americans interned during World War II will not appear on the memorial to them and Japanese-American veterans, a representative of the memorial's board of directors said today.

The verse reads:

"O, America

"Imperfect, stumbling, striving

"Lessons from the past."

The poem, a haiku -- a 17-syllable Japanese verse form -- had been criticized as hard to understand.

Cherry Tsutsumida, executive director of the memorial's board, said the inscription will not be included because it had not been approved by the U.S. Fine Arts Commission. The board on Saturday reaffirmed that the memorial will include another inscription that had also been criticized. That "Japanese-American creed" was written the year before the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor.

"I am proud that I am an American of Japanese ancestry," the creed says. "I believe in her institutions, ideals and traditions. I glory in her heritage; I boast of her history; I trust in her future."

Other inscriptions to be included are critical of the internment of more than 115,000 Japanese-Americans.