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On March 5, 1984, the Seattle City Council passes Ordinance 111571, in reparation to municipal employees fired during World War II because of their Japanese ancestry. The ordinance is introduced by Council member Delores Sibonga (b. 1931) and states that "in the interest of fairness, justice and honor, The City of Seattle should make reparation to City employees of Japanese ancestry who were terminated, laid-off or dismissed from City employment pursuant to Executive Order No. 9066." The executive order, signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, forced 110,000 Japanese Americans to leave their West Coast homes and go to prison camps during World War II.

Seattle Mayor Charles Royer signed the reparations ordinance on March 6, 1984, the day after the Seattle City Council passed it. The order called for a payment of $5,000 to the five employees who had been unjustly dismissed four decades earlier. The five included Thomas Kobayashi and Sumiko Kuriyama, who had been Seattle City Light clerks.

Sources:

Sadamu Shimabukuro, Born in Seattle: The Campaign for Japanese American Redress, (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001), 87-89.

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