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.As a result, former members ofEast Wind working through the LRS played a prominent role in the pursuitfor reparations by working with the National Coalition for Redress andReparations.The campaign for redress and reparations was highly significant.It was222 / THE THI RD WORLD LEFTa huge step forward for a community that still struggled with the shame ofinternment and dealt with it primarily by repressing its past.Consequently,the initial struggle for redress was internal, as many mainstream JapaneseAmericans opposed the idea.Not only did the idea seem utterly implausible,but many were uncomfortable with making such demands on society.Asone internee explained,  I never thought it would happen.My attitude was I ll believe it when I see it. I didn t think people were sympathetic, or sawit as a hardship, or that they would even be sorry.You know, they told usthat it [internment] was for our own good. This is where the leadership ofrevolutionary activists was so instrumental.As people used to thinking out-side the box and armed with the discipline to conceive and carry out a long-term campaign, activists began shifting the discourse and attitudes of thelarger Japanese American community, while at the same time making con-nections with potential allies.Having built this kind of base, they were thenable to take the struggle to the U.S.public.At last, President Reagan, in oneof his finer moments, offered a formal apology and authorized monetaryreparations to internees in 1988.14The Japanese American pursuit of redress and reparations was a mile-stone in the struggle for democracy and civil rights among U.S.people ofcolor.This was one of the few times that the U.S.government acknowledgedthat it had violated the civil and human rights of a racial/ethnic minoritygroup and offered monetary compensation.While $20,000, the amountgiven to internees, could never compensate for what they had lost and suf-fered, it was an important step in attempting to heal an open wound, as wellas a move toward reconciliation and a reminder to us all of the precariousnature of freedom.The campaign for redress and reparations has become amodel that other racial/ethnic groups have studied in an effort to addresspast grievances, including the current movement for slave reparations.15While Japanese Americans continue to be active in Nikkei struggles,much of their activism has shifted toward the larger Asian/Pacific Islander(A/PI) community.This has become necessary because the A/PI populationhas diversified tremendously and the Nikkei continue to decline.As recentlyas 1970 Japanese Americans were the largest Asian American group in theregion, but today they are one of the smallest.Since the 1965 ImmigrationAct, Chinese immigrants have been coming to Southern California in recordnumbers, as have Filipinas/os, Koreans, and Vietnamese, all of whom nowhave larger populations than Japanese Americans.Further, the JapaneseAmerican population is declining, some say vanishing, due to intermar-riage, as members are marrying whites, Latinas/os, Blacks, and especiallyother Asians in unprecedented numbers.In addition, Southern CaliforniaTHE THI RD WORLD LEFT TODAY / 223Nikkei have continued to prosper economically and socially so that theirincome now rivals that of whites.Accordingly, while Japanese Americanactivists still take on important community issues, such as the currentstruggle for a recreational center in Little Tokyo, they frequently focus onother Asian American groups when it comes to issues of class and poverty.16Regardless of such shifts, Japanese Americans remain extremely impor-tant to the political landscape of Los Angeles.Because of their long historyin the region, Japanese Americans have one of the most established com-munity service traditions among A/PIs.One of the results of the AsianAmerican movement of the 1960s and 1970s was the development of awhole series of Asian American oriented social services.Originally builtprimarily, but not exclusively, by Japanese Americans, these social serviceorganizations have long since diversified to serve a more varied and immi-grant-oriented population [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]