It was not until 1944, two and a half years after the Executive Order 9006 was signed, that President Roosevelt rescinded the order and began closing the camps (Ross, S.& Villanueva, R, 2007). Though only those deemed loyal were allowed to be released. Many that
were allowed to return to their homes were forced to start from nothing financially or try to evict strangers from their homes. It also took two more years for the last of the camps to officially close, in 1946 (Robinson, 2010). There were 5,766 Nisei that renounced citizenship as Americans after being released from internment (Ross, S. & Villanueva, R, 2007). Many of the Japanese Americans began to leave the West Coast and look for somewhere to relocate their families (Robinson, 2010). Around 75 percent of the Japanese Americans lost all of their property. Others found that the property they had stored in churches and warehouses had been stolen or vandalized. Many Japanese Americans had left their farms, homes and possessions in the care of white neighbors, who took the opportunity to claim the property, stay in the homes they cared for, and keep all profits from the farms production during the war (Robinson, 2010). By the 1980s, activists and scholars began to realize the effects the internment camps had on internees and that the memories were too painful to deal with (Murray, 2008). Eventually in 1988, United States Congress granted formal payments of $20,000 to the 60,000 surviving internees (Ross, S. & Villanueva, R, 2007). These reparations were granted when Congress passed the Civil Rights Restoration Act in 1988 and were sent with official apologies (Robinson, 2010). The reparations were given out until August of 1998 (Satsuki, 1999). The federal government distributed $37 million in reparations to the surviving Japanese Americans (Civil Rights: Japanese Americans, 2007). Even after the redress, thousands of Japanese Americans continued to face the mental and physical health impacts from the trauma caused by their experiences during interment (Satsuki, 1999). “Health studies have shown a 2 times greater incidence of heart disease and premature death among former internees, compared to non-interned Japanese Americans” (Satsuki, 1999). |
Heart Mountain internees board a train to return home
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