Reparations

I feel compelled to respond to the letter from Steve Tezber (Oct. 14).

The issue here is not one of liberals with guilty consciences. Nor is the assertion that “eighty percent of the taxpayers had nothing to do with the internment” particularly relevant. Demographics have nothing to do with it.

The issue here is one of right and wrong. Tezber wonders why the children should pay for “the alleged sins of the fathers.” For the same reason that those interned were held responsible for the sins of their cousins. These were not the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. They were American citizens who were deprived of their homes, their businesses, and the lives they had made for themselves by the U.S. government, an entity which still exists.

It is the government, Mr. Tezber, not liberals, that acknowledges this great wrong. And in so doing it serves notice to its future participants that any government has a responsibility to its people.

I should also point out that we “damn liberals” are paying for this. We pay taxes, too.

KURT WELDON

North Hollywood