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A2 UP FRONT
Monday 17 February 2020

Continued from front sult of "racial prejudice, war try perceived as a threat.
On Thursday, California's hysteria and failure of politi- Seven years later the state
Legislature is expected to cal leadership." Five years barred anyone with Japa-
approve a resolution offer- later, the U.S. government nese ancestry from buying
ing an apology to Ouchi- formally apologized and farmland.
da and other internment paid $20,000 in reparations The internment of Ouchida,
victims for the state's role to each victim. his older brother and par-
in aiding the U.S. govern- The money didn't come ents began in Fresno, Cali-
ment's policy and con- close to replacing what fornia. Three months later
demning actions that was lost. Ouchida says his they were sent to Jerome,
helped fan anti-Japanese father owned a profitable Arkansas, where they
discrimination. delivery business with 20 stayed for most of the war.
President Franklin D. Roos- trucks. Given their young ages at
evelt's executive order He never fully recovered the time, many living vic-
No. 9066 establishing the from losing his business and tims such as Ouchida don't
camps was signed on Feb. died early. remember much of life in
19, 1942, and 2/19 now The California resolution the camps. But he does re-
is marked by Japanese doesn't come with any call straw-filled mattresses In this photo taken Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, Les Ouchida holds a
1943 photo of himself, front row, center, and his siblings taken
Americans as a Day of Re- compensation. It targets and little privacy. at the internment camp his family was moved to, as he poses
membrance. the actions of the California Communal bathrooms had at the permanent exhibit titled "UpRooted Japanese Americans
Assemblyman Al Muratsu- Legislature at the time for rows of toilets with no bar- in World War II" at the California Museum in Sacramento, Calif.
chi was born in Japan and supporting the internments. riers between users. "They Associated Press
is one the roughly 430,000 Two camps were located put a bag over their heads
people of Japanese de- in the state — Manzanar on when they went to the The resolution, co-intro- as a reminder "to learn from
scent living in California, the eastern side of the Sier- bathroom" for privacy, said duced by California As- the mistakes of the past."
the largest population of ra Nevada in central Cali- Ouchida, who teaches sembly Republican Leader Muratsuchi said the inspira-
any state. The Democrat fornia and Tule Lake near about the internments at Marie Waldron of Escon- tion for that passage were
who represents Manhattan the Oregon state line, the the California Museum in dido, makes a passing ref- migrant children held in U.S.
Beach and other beach largest of all the camps. Sacramento. erence to "recent national government custody over
communities near Los An- "I want the California Legis- Before the last camp was events" and says they serve the past year. q
geles introduced the reso- lature to officially acknowl- closed in 1946, Ouchida's
lution. edge and apologize while family was shipped to a fa-
"We like to talk a lot about these camp survivors are cility in Arizona. When the
how we lead the nation by still alive," Muratsuchi said. family was freed, they took
example," he said. "Unfor- He said anti-Japanese sen- a Greyhound bus back to
tunately, in this case, Cali- timent began in California California. When it reached
fornia led the racist anti- as early as 1913, when the a stop sign near their com-
Japanese American move- state passed the Califor- munity outside Sacramen-
ment." nia Alien Land Law, tar- to, "I still remember the
A congressional commis- geting Japanese farmers ladies on the bus started
sion in 1983 concluded that who some in California's crying," Ouchida said. "Be-
the detentions were a re- massive agricultural indus- cause they were home."