A U.S. activist who has been demanding government redress for Japanese-Latin Americans interned during World War II told reporters in Tokyo on Friday that the "shameful chapter in U.S. history" is not yet closed despite the settlement reached in June between the U.S. government and former internees.
Grace Shimizu, leader of the California-based Campaign for Justice, arrived in Japan on Wednesday to discover an estimated 600 Japanese-Latin American former internees here have yet to apply for the U.S. redress program, which is to end Aug. 10.
The settlement agreement includes a $5,000 redress payment and a letter of apology from U.S. President Bill Clinton for each former internee.