1988 - Civil Liberties Act

The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was a law passed by the United States Government to compensate for mistreatment, forceful relocation into internment camps upon suspicion of being spies for their home country of Japanese-Americans during World War 2. The act had five goals: to acknowledge the fundamental injustice of the evacuation, relocation and interment of citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry during World War II, to apologize on behalf of the people of the United States for the evacuation internment, and relocations of such citizens and permanent residing aliens, to provide for a public education fund to finance efforts to inform the public about the internment so as to prevent the recurrence of any similar event, to make restitution to those individuals of Japanese ancestry who were interned, and to make more credible and sincere any declaration of concern by the United States over violations of human rights committed by other nations.

This act was pushed into the legislature by California's Democratic Congressman Norman Mineta who was an internee as a child, Wyoming's Republican Senator Alan K. Simpson who met Mineta during a visit to an internment camp, and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

The internment displaced nearly 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans along the west coast during World War II, 62% of whom were US citizens. While 10,000 were allowed to move to other parts of the country of their own choice, the remaining 110,000 were relocated to crudely constructed War Relocation centers in very desolate areas along the west coast and Midwest.

This act granted surviving internees about $20,000 in compensation, with the money being paid out starting in 1990. However, the law was restricted to American citizens or legal permanent residents, and thus the Japanese that had been dislocated from Latin America were not included in the reparations, even if they remained in the United States after internment.

The original internment was a clear cut case of scientific racism and affected not only the Japanese, but all other Asians as well. During that time of war and panic, it was hard for the government to discern the difference amongst the Japanese and other Asians. Asian Americans became each other's worst enemies as groups like the Chinese created documents with pictures showing the facial differences between them and the Japanese as to avoid being sent off to internment camps.

This act was a step in the right direction towards compensating for past mistakes.