The war ended, and the ten concentration camps closed. Japanese Americans were given bus
or train tickets, and twenty-five dollars to start their lives over.
But the nightmare continued when they left the camps.
My daughter and I walked and walked and walked, and we walked all day long. And everywhere
we went, there would be a "for rent" sign. We'd get there, they'd say, "Oh, it's rented already."
We never could get any satisfaction, and finally we found one place, the lady took
us up to the second floor. And we were so happy because we thought,
"Oh, at last we've got a place to stay."
But then she turned around as she went to open the door, she says,
"Oh." And her face just turned as red as a beet and she says,
"I just remembered I rented the place."
See, she didn't know we were Japanese, or she didn't realize at the time.
After the war, Japanese Americans gradually and painstakingly rebuilt their lives.
Years passed without much talk of what had happened during the war. But in the 1960s, social movements
ignited change and refocused attention on past injustices. Community members examined
government intelligence and military documents that showed that Japanese Americans were not
a security threat, and that there was little risk of a Japanese invasion to the West Coast.
With pressure from the Japanese American community, a commission created by Congress was formed
to examine the causes of the World War II incarceration.
When Executive Order 9066 was signed, that young man was no more.
Instead, I was Mark Murakami, Japanese American, dutifully registering to be taken into protective custody.
The commission found that there was no military necessity, that the real reasons were
"race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership."
Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 offering an apology and monetary payment
to those incarcerated.
We gather here today to right a grave wrong. More than forty years ago, shortly after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States
were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in makeshift internment camps.
This action was taken without trial, without jury. It was based solely on race, for these 120,000
were Americans of Japanese descent.
The legislation that I am about to sign provides for a restitution payment to each of the 60,000
survivors. Yet no payment can make up for those lost years. So what is most important
in this bill has less to do with property than with honor. For here we admit a wrong;
here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.
Eventually, 82,000 Japanese Americans received a presidential apology and a $20,000 payment.
For many, the painful memories of incarceration inspire them to fight for justice.
You should speak out because if it could happen to you, it could happen to anybody.
As long as you're a minority, they can pick on you and they can incarcerate you as they did us.
But if you get out there and speak out and speak out loud, I think you will be able to
combat those type of things. We should go out there and tell the people and make them
remember that this should never happen again.