U.S. Aplogizes to Asians in 1988

The deadly attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese was the beginning of a brutal internment camp period for everyone of Japanese descent. Because the American government feared Asian invasion by the Japanese, 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-American were relocated and interned in camps all around the United States. Ironically, most of these prisoners were already American citizens but because of their ethnicity their citizenship did not matter any longer. The Japanese people who lived near the coast were relocated into internment camps by the American government and the times spent in the camps scarred them for life physically, emotionally and psychologically. During the camps, the Nisei (second-generation Japanese) or American-born Japanese people were the only ones permitted to hold some kind of leadership positions. Meanwhile, the first generation elders were forced to remain silent due to them having no affiliation with the United States.

Despite the discrimination against the Japanese and Japanese-Americans during the internment camps, President Ronald Reagan signed a law that provided the surviving internees with a payment of $20,000 and a $1.25 billion education fund along with other necessities the internees deserved after the brutal treatment. Although money was not able to fully recover the emotional and psychological damage that was left from the World War II, it was a way of American apologizing to the Japanese and Japanese-Americans for what they have done to them during the internment camps.

This national apology made by the American government was the beginning of a healing process that took place within the Japanese people and America. Post World War II allowed political ties to become stronger and eventually create a defense treaty with Japan. In remembrance of the internment camps and those who were involved, Manzanar still remains as one of the main internment camp locations to remember what happened in history so the same mistakes will not be made again. By having these memorials to honor those who served and the lives that were taken during the War, we can look back in history today to see how the ancestors of the Japanese came through the struggles that dealt with America which is a place that many of us call home today.