Go to the following website to read a brief summary of Japanese Internment during WWII and the eventual payment of reparations to these families: http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html. Do you think the U.S. should have paid reparations to the Japanese? If so, explain why and if you think the amount they got was enough. If not, explain why not. Be sure to respond to a classmate and include your email wh
31 Comments
Bobby C.
3/29/2010 03:55:31 am
I do think it was right to pay reparations to the Japanese, however, I do not think the amount paid was enough. The $20,000 covered the personal property that was stolen from most Japanese-Americans in the internment camp, but it was not nearly enough to cover the psychological, emotional hardships or houses that were completely looted and sometimes taken over by others outside the internment camp.
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Yes I do think that we did the right thing by paying those reparations to the Japanese after we bombed them, but I do not think that we paid enough to them for all that they have lost, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. Could you imagine from going from living a normal life to not having anthing at all. I think that we should have payed almost double of what we actually did.
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Bobby C.
3/29/2010 09:30:50 am
I agree with Morgan, the mental and emotional damage done cannot have a price put on it. Also, $20,000 was not nearly enough seeing as some of the Japanese in the internment camp lost everything when they were sent there.
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Taylor Dean
3/30/2010 06:58:15 am
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Taylor D.
3/30/2010 07:05:57 am
Yes, I do think that the Japanese should have gotten some reparation from what happened. Even if they were not longer alive, their family should have received something from us. Obviously, money won't make up for the psychological issues these men and women face on a daily basis nor will it bring back a deceased loved one. However, it does show that we do acknowledge a horrible part of our history. I glad, and surprised, that they received a formal apology from us. I don't expect them to love us or even our country for that matter, I don't blame them if they hate us, but we did try to mend relations. I think I would have given them more money than what was given. I don't know an exact amount that would be "appropriate", but more than $20, 000. I feel like we should have done more than money and a letter, but I'm not quite sure what else to give them. It's just another horrible decision made in our nation's history.
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Taylor D.
3/30/2010 07:09:08 am
I agree with Bobby. All of what he says, I think is right. We should have done something to help out their pyschological health, but what could we do? Give them more money for professional help? They aren't going to want to talk about it or even acknowledge what happened. This would be like asking a Jewish person, who survived the Holocaust, to tell of their experiences. Even after this long, most won't feel comfortable discussing what they went through.
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Amberleigh V.
4/4/2010 10:57:08 am
The US definitely should have paid reparations to the Japanese. I don’t think they deserved to be treated like they did just because they were of the same race as the people who bombed pearl harbor. 20,000 dollars is a low price for the physical and mental damage done to the people who were imprisoned.
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Amberleigh V.
4/4/2010 10:59:47 am
I agree with Morgan that the amount they received was not enough. There was a lot of mental and emotional damage that cannot be undone or reversed, especially not with just a lump of money.
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Molly G
4/5/2010 05:38:40 am
The United States was right in paying reparations to the Japanese. Damage was clearly done to this race of people during World War II. As the website says, “some Japanese Americans died in the camps due to inadequate medical care and the emotional stresses they encountered. Several were killed by military guards posted for allegedly resisting orders.” These acts violated the Japanese American's rights. The money the Japanese received was adequate for that time. With a situation like this, a price can never be put on the mental damage, lives that were lost, or the rights that were taken away, but the government did what they could.
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Molly G
4/5/2010 05:41:44 am
Taylor makes a good comparison between the Japanese American Interment Camps and the Nazi Concentration Camps. There were many similarities between these camps. Both types of camps were “surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.” American internment camps may not have been as harsh, as Concentration camps in Europe, but as everyone has said, these camps have caused much mental damage and this damage deserves some sort of apology or reparation at the least.
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Zain B
4/9/2010 01:29:19 pm
Yes I think it was right for the United States to pay reparations to the Japanese families affected by World War 2 internment camps. The amount paid, however, was not near enough to repay the damages the United States government caused to these people. Like many above have already stated the psychological and physical damage caused by this atrocity is nowhere near mended by 20,000$. More reparations should been presented such as free education and healthcare for those affected. This could help those affected regain normal lives and help them make up for the time lost.
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ZAIN b
4/9/2010 01:35:27 pm
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Ashley C
4/11/2010 12:05:07 am
I do think that the Japaneses deserved the payments they got. I think for their suffering they should of recieved more. However knowing our government I think they made an adequate gesture for the amount of people in the camps and the amount of money our government had. People were dying and there was no rhyme or reason for it and that is why I think the Japenese deserved more.
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Ashley C
4/11/2010 12:09:18 am
I agree with Molly that our government did what they could and I was surprised to see just how much our government gave them knowing how stingy we can be.
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Ted S.
4/11/2010 01:17:35 pm
I think we did the right thing in helping the Japanese out financially. However, we should have helped more. The damage we did to them emotionally, physically, and financially is too immense for the measly compensation we gave the Japanese people.
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Ted S.
4/11/2010 01:18:10 pm
I agree with Morgan. We should have doubled our financial help.
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Ryan H.
4/12/2010 11:44:11 am
The U.S. should not have paid Japanese people reparations. Twenty thousand is not that much money. Especially when we were trying to apologize for throwing them into internment camps. I do not believe that money was the best way. I feel like that is like bribing a little kid. The kid might put a happy face on for the money, but that does not make it alright.
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Ryan H.
4/12/2010 11:47:11 am
I agree with Zain. Giving a couple generations free healthcare or college education would have been much better than a lousy twenty thousand dollars.
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Craig
4/12/2010 01:04:09 pm
This can be a really touchy subject, because, like the Native Americans, there is no way to pay a group of innocent people back for unecessary cruelness. However, I think reparations should be attempted, even though it wont nearly cover the turmoil that the Americans put them through. Putting US citizens in camps like animals is inexcusable. Any thing is good, but the sore is still, and i think will always somewhat be open.
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Craig
4/12/2010 01:09:56 pm
I agree with Ashley when she said, "The amount paid, however, was not near enough to repay the damages the United States government caused to these people.".But in some ways I also disagree, because there is not amount of money that will truly repay what was done to the Japanese-Americans. You cannot put a price on a life.
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Muma
4/13/2010 12:43:41 pm
The U.S. should have paid reparations to the Japanese-Americans that were in internment camps during WWII. There is very few reasons that one should be imprisoned and skin color is certainly not one of them. The Japanese-Americans should have received more money than what they did. You cannot put a price on freedom and that is what the U.S. attempted to do, meagerly.
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Muma
4/13/2010 12:50:57 pm
I agree with Judy, caging humans like animals is cruel. Throwing money at a problem does not make it go away, but it at least can be seen as the extension of an olive branch. If I were a Japanese-American, I would have fought tooth and nail for my freedom, or died trying. I would not have cared that it was temporary, by the constitution you cannot be falsely imprisoned. Were they put on trial? No, then there is absolutely no reason to throw them in cages.
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Paige L
4/14/2010 11:21:47 am
Yes, I do believe the U.S. should have paid reparations to the Japanese because it was unnecessary for us to put them through that type of trauma. The only reason why this was done was because of paranoia and hysteria and it's horrible that we put the Japanese through this without evidence to back up any suspicion.
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Paige L
4/14/2010 11:23:42 am
I also agree with Morgan in him saying that we should have doubled our payments to the Japanese. It's just horrible to think about all of the hardships they probably went through just for being the same race as the people we were at war with.
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brian w
4/15/2010 02:00:46 am
The U.S. should not have paid Japanese people reparations due to the facts that they didn't pay reparations for what they did. They got what they deserved so they need to deal with it. War is war and means people in this country will do what it takes to keep our freedom.
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brian w
4/15/2010 02:03:47 am
I disagree with Amber because the Japanese got what they deserve. They bombed us so they knew we would come and bomb a crap load on them. They made us suffer now its their turn!
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Sarah H
4/15/2010 02:10:38 am
I don't know why I am even doing this because it is completely pointless now..........
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Brianna
4/18/2010 01:07:33 pm
I do think it was right to pay reparations to the Japanese because of all the damaged we caused physically and emotionally. although was it enough? not nearly!!
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Brianna
4/18/2010 01:08:58 pm
i agree with morgan in saying we should have paid more. but i don't think doubling it is enough either!
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Natalie
4/18/2010 01:31:05 pm
yes i think us paying them was the right thing to do because what we did to them was wrong. we took little children and families against their will and sent them to concentration camps. we like to point the finger at the germans and say oh concentration camps but yet we do it to. i think the whole thing was ridiculous. smart idea in theory to have people put away if under suspicion but not random innocent people who did nothing wrong. yea i think its the right thing to do to pay them. it still doesn't really make up for our actions but it still helped, because you really can't give someone back their lost freedom and rights
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Natalie
4/18/2010 01:32:00 pm
i agree with paige when she said this whole thing started out of hysteria and paranoia
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