The East Side Freedom Library and the St. Paul Recovery Act Reading Group invite you to our monthly reading/discussion, What Can Advocates for Reparations Learn from Japanese-Americans’ Experiences?

Register here to join this event on Zoom. After registering, you will be sent a confirmation email containing the Zoom link.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which officially apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government and authorized a payment of $20,000 (equivalent to $44,000 in 2020) to each former internee who was still alive when the act was passed. This did not come about due to the generosity of Ronald Reagan or a coming-to-consciousness about racism on the part of the U.S. Congress. Japanese-Americans had been organizing and pushing for some time. In 1978, the Japanese American Citizens League formed a Redress Committee and began to organize in Japanese-American communities across the U.S. They reached out to Japanese-American legislators and placed them in the role of pressuring their governmental colleagues.

On August 2, 1979, two legislators introduced Senate bill 1647 to establish a Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, and in 1980, this bill was signed into law. The Commission gathered archival source, scholarship, and personal papers, and held 20 days of hearings in which 750 people testified in seven cities.

This past month, ESFL joined with the Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League to host a “Day of Remembrance” program, marking the 80th anniversary of President Roosevelt’s executive order which led to the arrest and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans. Their community, even after receiving an apology and cash payments, does not want to forget what happened to their families, and they do not want other Americans to forget either. Further, they have become allies in the African American struggle for reparations.

Join us on March 14 to discuss what we can learn from their experiences. Here are some readings:

• https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/03/24/820181127/the-unlikely-story-behind-japanese-americans-campaign-for-reparations
• https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/redress-and-reparations-japanese-american-incarceration
• https://www.npr.org/2022/02/18/1077276293/george-takei-got-reparations-he-says-they-strengthen-the-integrity-of-america
• https://theconversation.com/why-japanese-americans-received-reparations-and-african-americans-are-still-waiting-119580
• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/-know-possible-japanese-americans-join-fight-reparations-rcna11256

Free and open to all