Restitution: The Burden Of Shame

After a somber and sometimes impassioned debate, the House of Representatives last week voted 243 to 141 to issue a formal apology to the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were forcibly sent to resettlement camps in World War II. In addition, the resolution provides $50 million for a fund to educate the public about the detainment program and a controversial $1.2 billion in restitution payments to the approximately 60,000 survivors of the camps.

The Senate is expected to approve a similar bill, but opponents say the U.S. cannot afford to add such a sum to the huge federal budget deficit. Supporters of the measure say the U.S. is morally indebted to the detainees. Said California Democrat Norman Mineta, whose family was sent to an internment camp in 1942: "The burden has fallen upon us to right the wrongs of 45 years ago." But Administration officials note that restitution payments were made to some Japanese Americans after the war, and predict that the President will veto the measure.