Quote from: Cnut237 on February 28, 2020, 01:09:38 PM

Ideally, yes. In practice, given the number of cases, that's too impractical:

Yes 82,000 or so survivors and next of kin is a lot but it would not have been an impossible task back in the late 80's.

Quote from: Cnut237 on February 28, 2020, 01:09:38 PM

Governments tend to deal in cold hard numbers. They will have committed a certain amount to reparations. Any investigations into the merits of each case would likely have come out of that $20k per person. The most efficient way to deal with it is same amount per person, and then process any appeals later if there aren't too many.

That is all about logistics and dollars, though. It won't bring back the dead or heal ruined lives. The best reparation that can be made is to learn the lesson about why it occurred, and prevent it from ever happening again. My last post with that huge list of racially motivated crimes influenced by Trump may not appear to be relevant to the discussion, but actually it is absolutely central.

Trump is definitely central to the discussion and is relevant because of the precedent he has set by the ridiculous fearmongering tactics he employed to woo the far right and to get publicity for his so-called tough stance. Why would somebody who grew up hearing stories of the Japanese American prison camps be creating racial division while he hold office of the President?

Quote from: Cnut237 on February 28, 2020, 01:09:38 PM

If you imprison people from a racial motivation in the 1940s, then say sorry and pay compensation in the 1980s, and then another forty years later we have a president who is actively encouraging racial division, then no lessons have been learned. If the government aren't reining Trump in, then they are complicit.

If you punch someone in the face, then say sorry and give them a dollar, then punch someone else in the face a couple of minutes later, then the apology and the compensation look kind of meaningless.

That is another great way to characterise the whole issue. Asking for votes by creating racial division or any form of hierarchical superiority is something disgraceful in itself but in the case of Trump he seems to be happy revelling in the support he is getting from the centre-right and far right. Did he learn anything from the past?