77 years after President Franklin D Roosevelt signed the executive order sending Japanese Americans into incarceration camps during World War II, the healing continues.
The Japanese American Citizens League passed a resolution last month formally apologizing to Japanese Americans ostracized by their own community for refusing to join the US military and pledge their unqualified allegiance to the United States, reports Rafu Shimpo.
Those who refused to answer yes yes to the government questionaire were known as Tule Lake Resisters because the United States segregated them into a high security prison at Tule Lake.
The controversy became a major source of division in the Japanese American community, one that continues to divide it even today.
“However, the resolution, in spite of some of the face-saving language, is significant for the JACL as an organization and the community it represents. As a long-time member of the Florin Chapter of the JACL, I am hopeful now that the organization itself will be able to honestly examine its own history and bring into alignment its commitment to protect and promote civil liberties, including the right to protest injustice,” said Satsuki Ina, who was born at Tule Lake.
The resolution received support from the families of three civil rights icons in the Asian American community- Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui. They noted the men are revered today, but their challenges to the constitutionality of the incarceration were initially opposed by JACL.
It also received support from the Manzanar Committee.
“The time has come—it is actually long overdue—for the JACL to make amends and begin a community healing process by adopting the resolution, apologizing to the Tule Lake resisters and their families,” said Bruce Embrey of the Manzanar Committee, in a statement in July. More than 2,000 incarees at Manzanar were transferred to Tule Lake after answering no no to the questions.
The passage of the resolution did not come without opposition.
“Rather than continuing to claim they were ‘victims’ of JACL actions so that they can rid themselves of the shame that their pro-Japan views and activities caused themselves and family members, the pro-Japan activists need to assume the responsibility for their activities and decisions, accept the consequences of their actions, and move on,” wrote Japanese American Veterans Association President Gerald Yamada in an op-ed. “This resolution, whether the delegates to the National Convention accept or reject it, can only serve to widen the divide that has long existed in our community.”
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