Restitution
Through heavy advocation from Japanese American leaders, on August 10, 1988, almost 50 years after the signing of Executive Order 9066, President Ronald Reagan approved HR 442, "An act to...make restitution to those individuals of Japanese Ancestry who were interned" (HR 442, 1988). The act acknowledged the injustice towards Japanese Americans, apologized on behalf of the US people, granted $20,000 to survivors, and was able to prevent atrocities like this from happening again in US history.
" The purposes of this Act are to -
(1) acknowledge the fundamental injustice of the evacuation, relocation, and the internment of the United States citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry during World War II; (2) apologize on behalf of the people of the United States for the evacuation, relocation, and internment of such citizens and permanent resident aliens; (3) provide for a public education fund to finance efforts to inform the public about the internment of such individuals so as to prevent the recurrence of any similar event; (4) make restitution to those individuals of Japanese ancestry who were interned (5) make restitution to Aleut residents of the Pribilof Islands and the Aleutian Islands west to Inimak Island, in settlement of the United States obligations in equity and law... (6) discourage the occurrence of similar injustices and violations of civil liberties in the future and; (7) make more credible and since any delegation of concern by the United States over violations of human rights committed by other nations." |