U. of Washington addresses wartime treatment of its Japanese-Americans
When it comes to making amends, it's never too late. If there were a single principle to guide us in our relations with others — either on a personal or a broader scale — it would be this.
On Feb. 19, 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on the relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast of the United States, across the Pacific from America's then-enemy. More than 110,000 of these people, over 60 percent of them American citizens, were rounded up at short notice and interned in concentration camps.
One of those internees, Fred Korematsu, took the United States to court for infringement of his rights. In 1944, the Supreme Court, in Korematsu v. United States, upheld the constitutionality of the president's Executive Order; and the internees were denied their freedom and the redress of justice.
More than 30 years later, in 1976, President Gerald Ford rescinded the order. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan issued an apology, and $1.6 billion was paid to the internees or their families.
And yet, for many of those Japanese- Americans, their children and grandchildren, the hurt had not been totally assuaged. Careers, plans, lives, land and property were denied them by the rupture of relocation and forced internment.
Some 440 Japanese-Americans were enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1941 and 1942. They, too, were forcibly removed from their homes and their studies were truncated for up to three years. In many cases, they entered the workforce after the war without having received their degrees.
On May 18, the University of Washington will honor the UW Japanese-American students from 1941 and 1942 in a ceremony called "The Long Journey Home." For the first time in its history, the university is conferring an honorary undergraduate degree on its former students. They are to be known as "the class of 2008."...
Read entire article at Roger Pulvers in Japan Times
On Feb. 19, 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on the relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast of the United States, across the Pacific from America's then-enemy. More than 110,000 of these people, over 60 percent of them American citizens, were rounded up at short notice and interned in concentration camps.
One of those internees, Fred Korematsu, took the United States to court for infringement of his rights. In 1944, the Supreme Court, in Korematsu v. United States, upheld the constitutionality of the president's Executive Order; and the internees were denied their freedom and the redress of justice.
More than 30 years later, in 1976, President Gerald Ford rescinded the order. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan issued an apology, and $1.6 billion was paid to the internees or their families.
And yet, for many of those Japanese- Americans, their children and grandchildren, the hurt had not been totally assuaged. Careers, plans, lives, land and property were denied them by the rupture of relocation and forced internment.
Some 440 Japanese-Americans were enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1941 and 1942. They, too, were forcibly removed from their homes and their studies were truncated for up to three years. In many cases, they entered the workforce after the war without having received their degrees.
On May 18, the University of Washington will honor the UW Japanese-American students from 1941 and 1942 in a ceremony called "The Long Journey Home." For the first time in its history, the university is conferring an honorary undergraduate degree on its former students. They are to be known as "the class of 2008."...