Background
Japanese Internment
Prior to World War II, California was home to more Japanese Americans than any other state. On February 19, 1942, just weeks after the United States entered the war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 giving the Secretary of War the authority “to exclude any and all persons, citizens, and aliens from designated areas in order to provide for security against sabotage and espionage. …” The lives of thousands of Californians were affected as a result of this executive order.
Over 120,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry and permanent residents from Japan were removed from their homes by the Army and first taken to temporary quarters at racetracks and fairgrounds that were referred to as assembly centers. They were later taken to American concentration camps for detained Japanese Americans. American concentration camps were bleak barrack camps, mostly in desolate areas of the West. Some families spent years living under these conditions and suffered enormous personal and economic losses.
History of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program
Almost 40 years after Executive Order 9066 was signed, Congress conducted a bipartisan review of the executive order’s impacts, and the Commission on Wartime Relocation and the Internment of Civilians issued a report titled Personal Justice Denied in 1982 (Part 1) and 1983 (Part 2). The report led to a federal law that delivered a public apology for internment, individual restitution to those interned, and a public education fund. The federal public education funding lasted for approximately three years and projects concluded by the end of the 1980s.
The California State Legislature created the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program in 1998. The program received up to $1 million annually between 1998 and 2011, when the funding was eliminated from the California budget. At the request of Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco, Governor Jerry Brown approved $1 million in one-time funding for the program in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
Legislation in 2017 by Al Muratsuchi, AB 491, established an advisory board, clarified administrative details, and encouraged the development of projects that provide information about civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, as well as the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
With support from legislators like Assembly members Ting and Muratsuchi, Governor Jerry brown included $3 million in the 2017-2018 Budget to continue funding through June 30, 2020.
In June 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom approved $5 million in one-time program funds to be expended by June 30, 2024, and support programming through June 30, 2026.