Japanese Internment Camp News Gives Me Hope, Mostly

I am so glad that someone in authority has made an effort to do something about a racial injustice. I have been criticized for being offended about wrongs done to people who aren’t black. People think I have enough anger for my own race, and besides, and other races have their own advocates. Sure, that logic is a good way to keep sowing the seeds of division. But, if we see ourselves as members of the human race, first, then we can understand how an injustice somewhere translates to an injustice everywhere. I am glad people are going to be named. Of course, they waited until most of the people who were in the camps have died. That part is a bummer because the adults are the ones who really experienced the camps. Still, there are people who were young, or who were born in the camps, who have to deal with the fallout, and who have wrongly internalized the shame people feel when they are victimized. Alcoholics Anonymous teaches that the first part of an amends is the basic admission that “I did this to you.” Without that acknowledgement there can be no apology much less compensation. According to ancestry.com, I have no Asian blood but that’s not going to stop me from enjoying this victory, though it may be far too little too late. My philosophy is that something beats nothing every day of the week!