Japanese-Americans Seek Speed-Up in Payments

After finding out that the final budget submitted by President Reagan included no money to begin making payments this fiscal year to Americans of Japanese ancestry interned during World War II, local Japanese-Americans announced a nationwide campaign to speed up redress payments.

Alan Nishio, co-chair of the California-based National Coalition for Redress/Reparations, does not believe the survivors--two-thirds of whom are over 60--can or should wait.

“If we were to truly provide meaningful redress to those who suffered, time is of the essence,” he said Monday. “We’re not interested in seeking redress for the heirs of those who suffered.”

Congress passed legislation last August that entitles about 60,000 Japanese-Americans to payments of $20,000 each. About 70% of those live in California.

Reagan’s fiscal 1990 budget requests that payments of $20 million begin Oct. 1, 1989, when the federal fiscal year begins. But his request includes no supplemental appropriation to begin payments during the current fiscal year, ending Sept. 30.

Miya Iwataki, the coalition’s national legislative chair, said the group’s campaign will involve lobbying and letter-writing over the next three weeks to try to influence President-elect Bush before his budget comes before Congress.

“We would see this as an opportunity for President Bush to set the tone in terms of civil rights for his Administration,” Iwataki said.

The Reagan budget, in addition to the $20-million restitution payments in fiscal 1990, requested $2.1 million in fiscal 1989 for the federal Office of Redress Administration, which is charged with finding and paying the former internees.

That amount is one-third of what the office had asked for, Iwataki said, adding that the redress coalition will also campaign for more funding for that office. The lesser amount, she said, “would greatly slow up the process of identifying survivors.”

The detention of Japanese began in 1942, when the federal government required the mandatory evacuation of all individuals of Japanese ancestry, saying they might be security risks. Eventually more than 120,000 were taken from their homes, and many lost all their property.