"This history of the Japanese American Citizens League was written not only for its thirty thousand members but also to answer JACL's critics, notably the Sansei--third-generation Japanese Americans--many of whom believe their fathers should have resisted the Evacuation during World War ll. Did JACL chart a wise course of cooperation with the federal government, or did it betray American principles and its own constituents by urging them to accept evacuation to U.S. Army-operated concentration camps? One of the most important purposes of the book is to take the Sansei back to those tragic, controversial years and show them exactly what their fathers confronted. Not only did they meet that crisis in what seemed the only way feasible at the time, but JACL has fought for full rights of citizenship for Japanese Americans ever since the war with remarkable success--an extraordinary record of accomplishment despite limited resources and membership. This book is for everyone concerned about ways in which Congress and the Supreme Court can fail to uphold the Constitution, and for those who will appreciate the story of one minority group's total--and nonviolent--victory over discrimination."--Dust jacket.

The story of how nearly 100,000 Americans achieved reparations and an official apology for one of the most shameful episodes in US history. For decades the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans remained hidden from the historical record, its shattering effects kept silent. But in the 1970s the Japanese American Citizens League began a campaign for an official government apology and monetary compensation. Redress is John Tateishi's firsthand account of this against-all-odds campaign. Tateishi, who led the JACL Redress Committee for many years, admits the task was herculean. The campaign sought an unprecedented admission of wrongdoing from Congress. It depended on a unified effort but began with an acutely divided community; for many, the shame of "camp" was so deep that they could not even speak of it. And Tateishi knew that the campaign would succeed only if the public learned that there had been concentration camps on US soil. Redress is the story of a community reckoning with what it means to be both culturally Japanese and American citizens, and what it means to prevent terrible harms from happening again. This edition features a new preface about the lessons Tateishi's story might have for reparations efforts today.