Bay Area Commemorates Day of Remembrance
An event in San Francisco's Japantown commemorated the Day of Remembrance, paying tribute to the Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II. The annual event serves as a reminder of the executive order that led to the forced relocation and incarceration of over 120,000 people.
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, authorizing the forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast. While the order did not specify any ethnic group, it was primarily applied to Japanese Americans. - Approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent were incarcerated, about two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. They were forced to leave their homes and were allowed to take only what they could carry, leading to significant property and financial losses. - Before being sent to ten main "relocation centers" in desolate inland areas of states like California, Arizona, and Arkansas, many were first held in temporary "assembly centers," which were often converted horse racing tracks with unsanitary conditions. - Long-term health studies have shown that former internees had a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death compared to non-interned counterparts. The psychological trauma also led to increased rates of post-traumatic stress and suicide. - The last internment camp, the Tule Lake Segregation Center in California, closed in March 1946. - Decades of activism from within the Japanese American community, led by figures like Norman Mineta, Spark Matsunaga, and organizations such as the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), pushed for an official apology and reparations. - In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized on behalf of the U.S. government. The act stated that the incarceration was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." - The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 also authorized a payment of $20,000 to each surviving internee, with over 82,219 individuals ultimately receiving these redress payments.
