Honda has been a defender of the civil rights of American Muslims . Soon after the September 11 attacks in 2001 , Honda spoke at a convention of the American Muslim Alliance ( AMA ) on October 2001 . He told those in attendance not to change their identity or name . " My last name is Honda . You can not be more Japanese than that . " The congressman remembered what he and especially his parents had to go through when Pearl Harbor was attacked . " We were taken in a vehicle with windows covered , we had no idea where we were being taken . " In the Quran oath controversy of the 110th United States Congress , Rep. Virgil Goode ( R-VA ) issued a letter to his constituents stating his view that the decision of Representative-elect Keith Ellison ( D-MN ) to use the Quran in his swearing-in ceremony is a threat to " the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America ... I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies " . In response , Honda penned a response to Goode expressing his surprise and offense by that letter and declaring " No person should be labeled as un-American based on his or her religion , and it is outrageous to cast aspersions on Representative-elect Ellison purely because of his religious background . " In 2007 , Honda voted for the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 , which was the legislative response to the Jack Abramoff scandal and introduced comprehensive new transparency requirements for lobbyists and for Members of Congress . In 2012 , he cosponsored H.R. 1148 , the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge ( STOCK ) Act , which criminalized insider trading by Members of Congress and required numerous disclosures . He voted for H.Res . 895 , which created the first-ever independent ethics office , the Office of Congressional Ethics
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Mike Honda