California apologizes for internment

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Several Japanese Americans interned during World War II join Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi at the California Capitol in Sacramento on Thursday. Associated Press/Photo by Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday continued a tradition of remembering President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order on Feb. 19, 1942, imprisoning Japanese Americans during World War II. The following day, the California State Assembly unanimously passed a new resolution apologizing for helping the U.S. government send 120,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps.

What difference does the declaration make to Japanese Americans? A former internee, 96-year-old Kiyo Sato, said young people need to know what happened: “We need to remind them that this can’t happen again.” Two of the nation’s 10 internment camps were in California in the mid-1940s. The state Senate will consider a version of the resolution later this year before sending it to the governor.

Dig deeper: Read Sarah Schweinsberg’s report in about a gathering last year of formerly interned Japanese Americans commemorating the U.S. Supreme Court decision that freed them.

Rachel Lynn Aldrich

Rachel is a former assistant editor for WORLD Digital. She is a Patrick Henry College and World Journalism Institute graduate. Rachel resides with her husband in Wheaton, Ill.