California apologizes for WWII internment of Japanese-Americans

February 21, 2020

Sacramento, California--The California State Assembly voted unanimously on Thursday to adopt a resolution apologizing to Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in concentration camps during World War II.

In the resolution, the state assembly said it "apologizes to all Americans of Japanese ancestry for its past actions in support of the unjust exclusion, removal, and incarceration."

The move came after the U.S. federal government, in 1988, offered an apology and compensation for the WWII internment of Japanese-Americans.

Under a presidential order in 1942, about 120,000 Japanese-Americans were sent to concentration camps during the war.

"We need to learn from our past mistakes so that we don't repeat that," assembly member Al Muratsuchi, who took the initiative in passing the resolution, said on Thursday.

The third-generation Japanese-American, 55, pointed to the similarity of President Donald Trump's immigration policy to the wartime internment.

David Mineta, 56, the first son of former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, a descendant of Japanese immigrants, was among the audience in the assembly chamber on the day.

"This is important because even today many of us worry about racism becoming policy. We cannot allow that in America," he said. Jiji Press