On Japanese Internment Camps

The Feb. 25 US News & World Report had an article "Preserving the Japanese-American Internment Camps" by Justin Ewers.

This was not one of our country's prouder moments, but under the circumstances that existed after the attack on Pearl Harbor, well, sometimes things happen.

Nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and taken by truck or train to ten remote internment camps. One of these became temporarily the tenth largest town in Colorado.

At the end of the war, they were released. The barracks and mess halls were torn down for scrap and the government got down to the business of not talking about the episode.

In 2006, President Bush signed a bill authorizing $38 million devoted to the preservation of the camps along with dozens of smaller-scale confinement sites. This was the first major federal effort at addressing the situation.

At present, only two camps are dedicated national historic sites. Even worse, the promised funds have not yet been appropriated.

Hey. Government, It's Time to Do the Right Thing!! Cooter