Remembrance Day-February 19

[fuzzis]

Today is the 66th anniversary of President Roosevelt's issuing of Executive Order 9066, authorizing the round-up and internment of Japanese Americans. In 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which issued a formal apology as well as redress payments of $20,000 each for surviving Japanese Americans who endured being imprisoned in their own country.

Find out more about the experience of Japanese Americans at this site (http://www.asianamericanmedia.org/jainternment/).

[jmb]

I remember Mother talking about having a Japanese American penpal in California during that time period and when she quit hearing from him, she wondered if he had been imprisoned.

[Desert Donkey]

What is the appropriate attire for the anniversary celebration of the vileness of America?

Sackcloth and ashes? "Stars and Stripes" prison uniforms?

[fuzzis]

I remember Mother talking about having a Japanese American penpal in California during that time period and when she quit hearing from him, she wondered if he had been imprisoned.

Probably. We stopped at Manzanar on our way south one time...back before digital cameras, so my pics can't easily be transferred.

That site has a lot of interesting stuff on it. Also came across this one (http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/evactxt.html) from the City of San Francisco's Virtual Museum that has newspapers from the time period. Interesting to read.

[Hermione]

Even my very, very conservative Bill O'Reilly-loving parents always spoke of that as an outrage. Especially when Japanese-American soldiers were fighting in Europe. In Memphis, a lovely Japanese garden in one of the city parks was destroyed (later rebuilt). But people were in shock and a little crazy. One of my uncles was on board the Intrepid and spent a year in the hospital (and a lifetime in pain) after it was hit. He hated Japanese and never overcame that hatred -- that's where a lot of people were at the time.