After the Sept. 11 attacks, many employers took illegal and inappropriate actions, such as firing Arab-American workers and forcing Sikhs not to wear turbans and to shave their beards, a reaction that echoes the response to the attack on Pearl Harbor when millions of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps, said Paul Igasaki, vice chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Igasaki spoke to a small crowd of seven people Wednesday in the Multicultural Center, 1936 Sheridan Road, discussing the importance of not allowing such history to repeat itself.

“The reason why I am a civil rights leader is because I don’t understand why certain things have happened in our history,” said Igasaki, Weinberg ’76.

The United States’ past prejudice and exclusion repeated itself during the recent war against terrorism, he said.

Igasaki said a poll after Sept. 11 showed that in light of recent events, two-thirds of respondents were unopposed to racial profiling and concentration camps.

“This shows that we still have a long way to go,” he said. “I think the question of what patriotism means often gets lost.”

Igasaki said civil rights should never be blocked, even in times of crisis.

“People feel that you can suspend the rules to do what’s necessary,” he said. “However, there should always be due process because there is always another side to the story.”

Igasaki said that since teaching prevents racial injustice, Northwestern should focus more on teaching ethnic history.

“If we can educate even at the 101 level, we make progress,” he said.

Igasaki said some of his experiences convinced him that racial groups could work together with positive results. Igasaki once worked for a mayor who won an election because of Hispanic support.

He also discussed the tendency of many Americans to group different nationalities under the label “Asian Americans.”

During World War II, Igasaki said anti-Japanese mentality motivated some Chinese Americans to wear buttons saying, “I’m Chinese, not Japanese.” But these measures did not curtail violence against Chinese Americans.

Many Americans also are ignorant of differences within each individual country, Igasaki said. Some people don’t understand that people from the same country can speak different dialects and fail to understand each other, he said.

Igasaki said his job allows him to work to prevent these prejudices from causing discrimination against minority groups.

“I really feel gratified to have the opportunity to do what I do,” he said.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission talks with human resource groups from corporations to enforce anti-discrimination laws against African Americans and European Americans and to combat English-only rules and accent discrimination.