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FDR blamedfor detentionof JapaneseWASHINGTON (AP)mentA govern-much of thecommission put blame Thursday on President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the World War II internment of 120.000 DeoDle of120,000 people Japanese descent but stopped shor recommending cash compensation thatI»grave injustice.Nonetheless, it appeared certain that compensation will be recommended when the Commission on Wartime RelocationandCiviliansissues its proposals to Congress, probably in June. By then, the commission is expected to have completed a study of the economic suffering arising from the 2Mj-year internment of the entire West Coast community of ethnic Japanese.The commission found that race hatred,and a failure ofthe rootwar hysteria political leadership were causes of the episode, which now is generally regarded as a blot in the nation’s history.But Roosevelt, as the nation’s leader, received much of the blame in thecommission’s report issued Thursday.The war president signed the detention order without “any careful or thorough review of the situation,” the commission said; he did nothing to calm war hysteria aimed at the Japanese on the West Coast; he remained silent when his Navy secretary falsely reported that Japanese espionage helped bring about America’s costly defeat at Pearl Harbor and he delayed the release of the Japanese for 18 months after Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson said it could no longer beInternment report vindicates victims, heightens reparations debateSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A government report that blames the World War II internment of Japanese-Ameri-cans on prejudice and hysteria was welcomed enthusiastically Thursday by the victims and their allies.But as victims recalled one of thedarkest episodes in U.S. civil rights history, debate continued on reparations for the 129,000 who lost theirThe ACLU filed the original appeal of the government internment order with the Supreme Court during the war, on behalf of Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui. They were convicted of resisting internment orders, and the ACLU recently filed a new appeal on behalf of their 40-year campaign to overturn the convictions.“I can agree (with the report) that it’s a grave injustice,” said former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, the California Republican of Japanese descent whotestified before the relocation corn-political scientist, uncoveredmissionments showing the Justice Department knew there was no evidence to support the relocations. He said the report shows “it will be difficult in any futurehomes and livelihoods because they were of Japanese descent.The report issued Thursday by the Commission on Wartime Relocation“It it unbelievable that in this coun-and Internment of Civilians said the reasons behind the evacuations “weretry, 120,000 people could be told to relocate, sell their property and be put behind barbed wire. I think most people believe almost 40 years later there was some reason for the internment,”race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.”“It is a great vindication of the travesty of justice that happened at that time. It’s very exciting,” said Elaine Elinson of the American Civilsaid attorney Don Tam'aki, who is also working on their appeals.The new report will “lend credibility” to the appeals, said Tamaki, an attorney for the Committee to Reverse the Japanese American WartimeCases.Liberties Union of Northern California.“The ACLU has been fighting this for40 years.”Not all Japanese-Americans believe the internment was avoidable.“But also I have to say that with 100 years of anti-Oriental agitation in the history of California, I don’t see what else could have happened,” said Hayakawa, who was not one of those interned. “After all, the Japanese did attack Pearl Harbor unexpectedly.”Hayakawa said the concept of reparations is offensive to the pride of older Japanese-Americans who proved their loyalty through efforts of the highly decorated Japanese-American Army unit in Europe.Hayakawa said reparations are “totally unnecessary in view of the fact that Japanese-Americans re-established their loyalty and their honor inblood, damn it. in blood.”situation to make a blanket target of any racial or ethnic minority.”San Francisco and Los Angeles are among a half-dozen cities in the West that have offered monetary reparations to former workers who lost theirbs because Frank ChuAngeles County Probation Department and was a law student at the University of Southern California when he was interned at Manzanar, one of several camps in California, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Arkansas.“If the responsibility for the evacuation of the Japanese rests jm President Roosevelt, the people in the War Department, I believe that’s where itPeter Irons, a University of Califor- properly belongs,” said Chuman.DENVER (AP)Fish market ownerFrank Torizawa just shrugged and laughed Thursday when hearing a government commission had condemned the internment ofAn Aill' a v*« VJapanese-Americans during World War II.“I don’t really give a damn now (about the resolution),” said the 70-year-old Torizawa, who lived behind barbed wire and guardJapanese culture.In the center of the square stands a bust of former Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr, the only Western governor who openly invited Japanese-Americans to live freely in the state during World War II.Thousands came and formed a close community in downtown Denver known asGAZETTE TELEGRAPH(USPS 123-440)Your Freedom NewspaperPublished daily and Sunday by Freedom Newspapers Inc., 30 South Prospect St., Phone 632-5511. Second class postage paid at Colorado Springs, Colo., 80901.POSTMASTER. Send address changes to the Gazette Telegraph, P.O. Box 1779, 30 S. Prospect St.,Colorado Springs, Colo., 80901.SUBSCRIPTION RATESDelivered by junior merchants in Colorado Springs, suburbs and all other: Daily and Sunday $3.00 per month
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Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Fri, Feb 25, 1983
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DC, USA 12 Aug 2019
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