California to apologize for Japanese internment

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION) On Thursday, California’s Legislature is expected to approve a resolution offering an apology to internment victims for the state’s role in aiding the U.S. government’s policy and condemning actions that helped fan anti-Japanese discrimination.

The Japanese American Citizens League of the Monterey Peninsula said this apology is important now, because of recent national events like the Muslim travel band and immigration detention centers.

“People talked about their experiences and they were really ashamed to be taken away, and having their liberties taken away. They said we can’t let this happen again but its happening again this fear immigrants,” former National JACL president Larry Oda said.

There's a rich Japanese history in Monterey county dating back to the early 1900s leading the way in fishing and even farming.

The Salinas Assembly Center, which is now the Salinas Sports Complex, was one of 15 temporary Japanese detention centers.

“The things that happened in 1941-42 are happening again," Oda said.“I think it means a lot to someone to say okay you admit you were wrong, but the apology is the next step.”

Most Japanese Americans forcibly removed from the West Coast were sent to one of these centers during the spring and summer of 1942 while the more permanent concentration camps were being prepared.

120,000 Japanese Americans held at 10 internment camps during World War II.

In 2018, Monterey County issued an apology for their part in the Japanese internment.