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US-CALIFORNIA-JAPAN-WWII-APOLOGY
California to apologize for WWII internment of Japanese
LOS ANGELES, Feb 19, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Nearly 80 years after the US
authorized the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II,
California plans to formally apologize this week for its role in one of the
darkest chapters in US history.
State lawmakers are set to vote on Thursday on a resolution which states
that the California legislature apologizes for “the unjust exclusion,
removal, and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and for
its failure to support and defend the civil rights and civil liberties of
Japanese Americans.”
More than 120,000 Japanese-Americans were sent to 10 concentration camps
throughout western states and Arkansas during World War II after President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order.
The February 19, 1942 order came just two months after the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor.
“The apology is especially pertinent now with President (Donald) Trump in
office,” Democratic assembly member Al Muratsuchi, who introduced the bill,
told AFP in a statement.
“What I hear over and over from the Japanese American community is about
how bothered they are about what is happening at our borders with children
and families held in cages, being torn apart.
“For many survivors of the Japanese American camps it strikes a deep
chord,” he added. “They see in many ways history repeating itself.”
The federal government apologized in 1988 for the forced removals that
lasted up to 1945, and granted compensation to survivors.
Muratsuchi, who is Japanese-American, said it was essential for California
to atone for its past mistakes given the role the state played.
“We like to talk a lot about how we lead the nation by example,” he said in
a tweet. “Unfortunately, in this case, California led the racist anti-
Japanese American movement.”
BSS/AFP/MSY/1010 hrs