Japanese-Americans and the U.S. Government

The Japanese-descent evacuees left behind an estimated $200,000,000 worth of real, commercial, and personal property when they were placed into the relocation centers. While the War Relocation Authority was a mediator and tried to be helpful for the evacuees in that regard, the vast amount of properties and personal items were sold for much lesser value, and they suffered great financial losses.

In 1946,when the Japanese-Americans returned to the West Coast after their ordeals in the relocation centers, many were met with hostility and huge housing shortage. Soon, many became crop pickers, cannery workers and gardeners because manual labor was the only means they could find to financially support themselves and their families. In 1947, President Harry Truman granted pardon to the 257 Japanese-American draft resistors. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed California to invalidate the Alien Land Law, which in turn denied gifts of land to immigrant Japanese to their citizen children. In 1952 however, the Supreme Court ruled that the Alien Land Law and the laws that went along with it to be declared unenforcable. In 1959, when Hawaii became the United States' fiftieth state, Daniel Inouye became the first Japanese-American to be elected to the House of Representatives. As the years would pass, Japanese-Americans and the United States Government would slowly but surely work on resolving the issues of the past and President Ronald Regan ensured this.

On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Regan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Congress passed the act and it provided a Presidential apology and a payment of $20,000 to the evacuees, interneess and people of Japanese decent who lost liberty and/or property because of the discriminant behavior of the Federal Government during World War II. The Act also opened the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund to help educate children about the Japanese-American Internment.

In 1989, the California State Legislature adopted the ACR 37, introduced by Jackie Speer. The ACR 37 urged the adoption of history/social science textbooks that truly depict the wartime incarceration. On November 21, 1989 President George Bush signed the appropriation bill which contained a redress payment of $20,000. Then in 1990, the San Francisco School Board assentingly created the "Day of Remembrance" resolution which was introduced by Leland Yee.

-President Ronald Regan in 1988 and President George Bush Sr.