The U.S. has paid reparations before... so why not now?

One of the biggest discussions in Congress over the summer was reparations for African American descendants of slaves. During a hearing House of Representatives members heard from groups in favor and against it.

While Congress looks into whether or not to take up reparations, this week marks an anniversary for a group that did receive reparations from the U.S. government: Japanese Americans.

It happened this week in 1988.

The story starts in 1941. In December, the Japanese Navy surprise attacked Pearl Harbor. Directly afterwards Anti-Japanese sentiment turned into outright racism across the country.

This strange fear developed that Japanese Americans lived a double lives as spies. Even though there was no evidence of this. In fact, one intelligence report showed Japan was more likely to attempt to recruit white and African American citizens.

In 1942, Congress voted to remove Pacific Coast Japanese Americans from the general public and place them into internment camps. That forced the removal of roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes.

The financial toll was extreme. As they went to the internment camps Japanese Americans lost homes, property, and belongings. It also had a significant psychological toll on the group.

After the war, Japanese Americans were released from the camps. But no immediate redress was on the way.

There was an attempt to make things somewhat right in 1948. President Truman signed a law to give some from of monetary compensation. But less than a quarter of those Japanese Americans were eligible.

By the 1960’s younger Japanese Americans began a campaign to receive reparations. The group focused on not just property loss, but the injustice and mental suffering caused by the internment.

The movement gained momentum through the 1970’s. It wouldn’t become a reality until this week in 1988.

President Reagan approved a law that gave $20,000 to any surviving Japanese American who had been placed in internment camps. It came almost 50 years after the order that sent them into camps.

The law cost the government roughly $1 billion in payouts. Which still paled in comparison to the estimated $6 billion lost by Japanese American families by being placed in internment camps.

50 years is a long time to wait to make things somewhat right.
The question in front of Congress now is: Is it so far off to think that things can still be made somewhat right 150 years later?

When you consider African Americans were a group illegally enslaved and then preyed upon in the decades following emancipation. Should something be done?

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[francoperalta]

I'm surprised you didn't bring up reparations for the Holacaust, Forced Sterilizations, the Tuskegee Experiment and Rosewood. For the Japanese internment at least the SURVIVORS of that got reparations.

[Zenth-cqtb]

Yes it’s different. Paying direct people affected instead of paying someone who never experienced slavery.

[coolchil]

I read some of the comments, so...
Japanese key word DESCENDANTS receive reparations, which include families, aka the children who were not there in the prison camps.

[mikepfitzpatrick]

This is a great video, for over 50 years I was against any form of Reparations because of the unfairness and heavy burdens being placed on those who had nothing to do with slavery in the past but now I have come to believe that there should be some small gesture of reconciliation on this matter. I propose that all people of African decent and those American Blacks/Indians should be granted permanent tax exemption status. This is my original idea that I hope somehow gets more attention than those who advocate for a larger monetary payout

[kamerondonaldson]

no it hasnt no it wont. asking any country to pay reparations to any demographic ever is like asking germany to pay ww1 reparations during the great depression.

[drmartin]

Shouldn't the countries that started the market and had catch them to sell?

[jamescates]

Those who did the “suffering “ were still alive to receive reparations in 1988....You can’t pass the crime on generation to generation...besides that ...How much is a human life worth ? Because we gave 320, 000 life to end slavery in the south...that GOTTA be worth something

[TheRealJimW]

A few differences…
1. Slaves were here before there was a United States… Japanese internment was a direct decision of US Gov't.
2. It was interned Japanese that got reparations, not just any person cos they are Japanese descent.
3. Like he said… who should pay?
a. just cos you're white doesn't mean you owned slaves
b. not in all states was slavery legal. It was a state, not a federal law.
c. what about us whose family moved here well after even Jim Crow.
d. What about the black people who owned slaves?
e. also not all black people are descents of American slaves.
f. what about biracial person... does their white half pay their black half?
How about ousting politicians who've been in office for decades and their voting districts are in shambles cos they're too busy playing the gotcha game instead of taking doing what they said they'd do when elected?

[The_boss_]

In my opinion the Japanese lost everything and they were alive the others did not know their ancestors and still want money 😂😂😂

[Obamaistoast]

There is no one alive that deserves reparations

[MrTheBoycie]

Well they suffered first hand. Not 5th

[SurrealKeenan]

Wait, they were illegally enslaved? I thought slavery was very much legal at the time.
Also, weren't the Japanese payments compensation for lost property? The black American slaves didn't necessarily lose property due to their enslavement, especially considering many were born into it. I feel that this is a false equivalence

[beef]

Hey! Guess you answered your own question! As you stated, Japanese Americans who had been interned in camps were compensated for that injustice. Not their children. Not their grand children. Only the Japanese who had been interned. Today there are no blacks in America who were subjected to chattel slavery. So-you pose the question “Why not 150 years later” and the answer is that people don’t live that long. So there is no one to pay.

[haydenpack]

Because it was a bad idea before and it’s a bad idea now

[brazenbull]

It's too late. Everyone to reparate is already dead. Descendents should ultimately be glad they were descendents as it's my understanding that conditions are better here than in Africa..

[deweylasv]

Reparations were also paid to blacks TWICE. There are research papers and newspaper articles, from both times. I'm having a difficult time remembering, but I feel like it was around emancipation. That was the first time, and it was led by the federal government. If I remember correctly, the 2nd time was paid out, due to a lawsuit. I try to relocate the proof I've discovered, everytime the topic of reparations comes up, but I get the feeling it's been wipe from online existence. Nevertheless, I know itll never be removed from the libraries, and/or microfilm.

internet has largely been stripped of the newspaper articles, that I found & read, a couple years back. However,