Approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced in to prison camps during World War 2 under the Executive Order of Franklin D Roosevelt which was backed by California State.

Executive Order #9066 was signed on 2nd February 1942 because there were fears the Japanese American population would help Japan during the war. Those incarcerated were forced to live in one of the 10 camps which were ringed by barbed wire and had armed guards. Many victims died because of medical negligence, many died at the hands of the guards that were supposed to ensure nobody escaped.

In 1976 the then US President Gerald Ford issued an apology for those camps and in 1983 the Commission of Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) came to the conclusion the camps were not "military necessity" but were effectively driven by "racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a failure of political leadership". They also stated "A grave injustice was done to American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without individual review or any probative evidence against them"

5 years later in 1988 the Civil Liberties Act came in to force and Congress backed reparation payments of $20,000 to each living survivor (or next of kin) along with a signed apology from the then US President Ronald Reagan. A total of around 82,000 people received payments.

The Federal government has apologised on several occasions and now the State Assembly of California has apologised too. Even though reparations have been made and the issues date back to the second world war but has this move on part the state of California opened old wounds rather than heal them? Is it too little too late?

How do you think the average American would feel about this? And how would that compare to the feelings of survivors and families of those camps?