Achieving the Impossible Dream: HOW JAPANESE AMERICANS OBTAINED REDRESS

by Mitchell T. Maki, S. Megan Berthold, Harry H.L. Kitano

Nearly fifty years after being incarcerated by their own government, Japanese American concentration camp survivors succeeded in obtaining redress for the personal humiliation, family dislocation, and economic ruin caused by their ordeal. An inspiring story of wrongs made right as well as a practical guide to getting legislation through Congress, Achieving the Impossible Dream tells the compelling story of how members of a politically inexperienced minority group organized themselves at the grassroots level, gathered political support, and succeeded in obtaining a written apology from the president of the United States and monetary compensation in accordance with the provisions of the 1988 Civil Liberties Act.

309 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 1999

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This writing team takes on the task of documenting the Japanese American redress movement. They focus especially on the role of community organizations and the particulars of congress. Kitano and Maki develop a chart to graph social change in regards to Japanese Americans as an explanatory tool for redress.