Editor,
Darlene Morikawa wrote a compelling letter from the July 17 edition of the Daily Journal "Thanks for recalling Japanese internment"concerning the Japanese-American internment during World War II. Those who deny that this deplorable event occurred at all are terribly misinformed.
Her otherwise accurate letter did misstate that "In our country, there has been no other racial, ethnic or religious group that has had to endure such a fate."
Black Americans unfairly endured 243 years of slavery where they were denied their rights under the U.S. Constitution and were unable to realize gains from their many long and hard labors.
To be fair, Japanese-Americans were paid reparations by the U.S. government to surviving members of the 1940s internment that lasted five years. The reparation amount was $20,000 along with a formal apology from the United States.
Black Americans have received nothing except 100 years of "Jim Crow" that began after the Civil War ended in 1865.
Surely, they are also due an apology and similar reparations equal to their suffering. And another discussion could be held regarding how American Indians were treated with the confiscation of their lands and being forced to live on reservations.
No true American can be proud of all the negative elements of our national history but at least we should be aware of them and make amends as necessary in the interest of fairness and social justice -- something we understand well enough today but our forefathers were little interested in.
Jim Lewis
Foster City
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