On the 20th Anniversary of Redress, JLAs are Still Fighting for Justice
Many Japanese Latin American former internees continue to wait for an apology and their redress payments.
As Japanese Americans across the nation celebrate the 20th anniversary of the landmark redress legislation, Art Shibayama, 78, wonders if justice for him will ever come.
In 1988 Art watched as tens of thousands of former World War II internees started to receive their presidential apologies and $20,000 in redress payments for their forced incarceration. But his reparations never arrived.
It's a battle he and other Japanese Latin American former WWII internees have been waging for more than two decades. But with an upcoming Congressional hearing in July, Art dares to hope that justice for him may soon arrive.
"I'm surprised I'm still fighting. I wasn't a person who would do something like this before," he said. "The U.S. has already said they made a mistake by bringing us here but still justice is not done right.
"Everybody that was in camp should have qualified for the same thing."
Unlike the JAs interned at various internment camps during the War, Art and other JLAs were kidnapped from 13 South American countries by the U.S. government to be used in prisoner exchanges with Japan. Many were held at the Crystal City, Texas Department of Justice camp.
The July 31 House Judiciary Committee hearing will look at a proposed bill to create a commission to investigate the unlawful internment of over 2,200 JLAs. Many had been stripped of their citizenships and faced deportation to Japan after the War. Those who remained in the U.S. were labeled "enemy aliens."
"We are realizing now, in a post-9/11 context, that the JLA experience is part of the broader WWII enemy alien program, and it calls on our community to come to understand how we look at the JA internment and internment of JLAs," said Grace Shimizu of Campaign for Justice, a coalition group including JACL that is fighting for JLA redress.
"In understanding our legacy it's important we realize that what happened to JAs was not limited to persons in the U.S. but it spanned two continents."
From Peru to Crystal City
Art was born in Lima, Peru and at the age of 13 he watched helplessly as his maternal grandparents were taken by U.S. Army transport to be used in a prisoner of war exchange with Japan.
He knew the rest of his family was soon to follow.
"Because my grandparents were taken I figured we would be taken eventually. I didn't know what was going to happen to us even after we were taken to the U.S."
With his parents and six siblings, Art was forced to board a ship to the U.S. Women and children were housed in upstairs cabins and because he was tall for his age, he joined the men below deck.
Their first stop was in New Orleans. The women and children were marched into a warehouse and ordered to stand in line while they were sprayed with what Art thinks was 
insecticide. He and his fellow male prisoners soon followed.
In March 1944 the family arrived at the Crystal City DOJ camp where other JA families, Germans and Italians were being held as prisoners. This would be their home for the next three years.
Art - who is supporting the current JLA legislation (S. 381 and HR 662) along with his two younger brothers Kenichi and Takeshi - hopes the formation of a commission will help lead to their long awaited apology and reparations.
"I hope they keep investigating what happened and realize they did something wrong," he said. "They classified us as illegal aliens when the U.S. government brought us here by gunpoint. Where is the illegality?"
Like Art, Hector Watanabe, 67, and his family had been living a prosperous life in Peru when U.S. Army officials arrived during WWII.
Hector's family had owned a successful department store called "Kasa Watanabe" and his father had been the president of the Japanese Peruvian Business Association. For U.S. officials, this was enough of a reason to intern the family.
"Of course this was a civil rights violation. These were innocent people. Greed was a big factor, there's no question," said Hector, who was taken to Crystal City when he was three.
Like many of the JLA families, the Watanabe family business and their bank accounts were seized by the Peruvian government. They were also no longer welcome in Peru.
"We were not guilty of any crimes. We were hostages."
1988 Civil Liberties Act
When the decade long Redress Movement culminated in the signing of the historic legislation by President Ronald Reagan, JAs across the country rejoiced. But soon afterwards, due to a technicality, some JAs and many JLAs discovered they were not included in the bill.
"Families started getting denied redress," said Grace, 54, whose Japanese Peruvian father was held at Crystal City during the War.
Grace had just started volunteering with the Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project helping JLA families with their redress applications. But soon the applications were being rejected.
Since JLAs were stripped of their citizenships and were not given legal status upon entering the U.S., they were considered to be "enemy aliens" at the time of their internment. For this reason they did not quality for redress under the 1988 Civil Liberties Act.
And after 20 years, JLAs are still fighting for justice.
"I don't think it's right," said Art. "We had it rougher than JAs. When we came here we didn't speak the language. When we came out of camp we had a hard time because we didn't speak English."
Some JLAs returned to Japan but Art and his family chose to remain in the U.S. after the War. After the camps the Shibayama family headed to Seabrook, New Jersey and a few years later to Chicago.
"My father finally gave up on going back to Peru," said Art.
In Chicago he continued to fight for his legal status even amidst threats of deportation. Ironically, it was during this time that he received his U.S. Army draft service notice.
"I was worried they may deport me so I thought I better sign up."
Art would go on to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and a few years later his younger brothers followed his lead. Art finally gained permanent legal status in 1956.
Like the Shibayama brothers, Hector and his siblings felt a calling to serve in the U.S. military even after the mistreatment they had experienced.
Although Hector and his family were one of the few JLA families to receive redress under the 1988 Civil Liberties Act, he continues to support those JLAs still seeking reparations.
"The U.S. needs to acknowledge this civil rights violation. Hopefully they will realize and admit to that and mend their ways," he said.
From Mochizuki to 2008
In 1998 JLAs finally saw an acknowledgement of their suffering with Mochizuki vs. USA, a class action lawsuit that offered an official apology and $5,000 each in redress payments.
Although some JLAs did accept the redress offered in the settlement, many JLAs, like Art and his brothers, rejected the lawsuit opting to pursue equitable redress in the U.S. Congress.
"It was like a slap in the face," said Art of the Mochizuki settlement.
In 2006 the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Latin Americans of Japanese Descent Act, a bill to create a commission to study the JLA internment and recommend remedies, was introduced by Rep. Xavier Becerra in the House and Sen. Daniel Inouye in the Senate. The legislation was reintroduced in 2007.
S. 381 has already passed a Senate committee and HR 662 will be discussed in a committee hearing on July 31. Art and other former JLA internees plan to provide testimony.
"Our ultimate goal is to get the bill passed as soon as possible," said Christine Oh, recently hired legislative campaign manager for Campaign for Justice. "We're still holding hope the bill can pass this session but if not ... we hope to introduce it again next year."
With an election year and time running out in this legislative session, Christine knows that passage of the bill is going to be an uphill battle. But the July hearing is also a chance to garner some much needed publicity on the JLA issue.
"With the election I think it is going to be difficult, but we are going to try to do everything we can," she said. "We want to get as much support as possible in the given time so in the next Congress we will have an easier time."
Campaign for Justice is hoping to raise about $30,000 to help send former JLA internees to the July hearings.
"We need to get proper acknowledgement, an apology and redress for our families who suffered human rights violations at the level of war crimes violations," said Grace. "Part of preserving this little known part of history is the history of not only our families but of the JA community and U.S. history."
The Pacific Citizen Web site gives you a sampling of the stories currently in the print edition of the P.C. Click here to subscribe and get two months free!
Print This Article-
Email This Article