To Oppose Reparations to Interned Japanese-Americans Is to Miss the Point Entirely

Regarding letters from Roy C. Brown and John S. Williams (“Why No Tears for American Victims of War?” March 1) concerning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II: I am constantly amazed by the way some people miss the point entirely.

The people who were “offered the option of relocating in an internment camp” after the bombing of Pearl Harbor were not visiting Japanese nationals, but people who made their homes in the United States. Many were American citizens. To call these people the “enemy of the United States” is inaccurate; these people were the United States. Their indiscriminate incarceration was a gross miscarriage of justice, and $20,000 cannot repay a person for lost years of his life.

Brown refers to “true Americans” in his letter. To me, Brown doesn’t sound like a Native American surname. Which tribe were his ancestors from? Doesn’t he really mean “white Americans”? My point is, most Americans emigrated from some other country. My grandparents were born in Germany, but I consider myself an American.

The true enemies of the United States are those people who classify and judge others on the basis of ancestry and color and who refuse to acknowledge our past mistakes. Perhaps those people should relocate to internment camps, all expenses paid. Hey, we could even show movies twice a week and hold Saturday night dances for their children!

JIM MERONK, Tustin