120,000 Japanese Americans were directly affected by World War II, whereby racial discrimination and political agendas forced them out of their homes and into internment camps which were described to be for their own protection. However, the years have revealed the unfair treatment that many of these internees and victims have suffered, which resulted in the formation of ORA – Office of Redress Administration – following a long and hard-fought lawsuit by one Mitsuye Endo.
The person that was put in charge of the program was none other than Robert K Bratt, a man passionate and dedicated to getting Japanese Americans the reparations that they so sorely deserve. He was given 10 years to identify and track down those who were interned, or those who suffered racial discrimination during or after the war.
Those who were eligible to receive redress will be given a payment of $20,000, along with a national apology. As noted by one individual, redress isn’t a means of erasing the past and sweeping it under the rug. It is a step forward in recognizing the mistakes that have been made and shows a willingness to compensate and apologize for those mistakes. With Robert K Bratt at the helm, he personally penned letter after letter to each living survivor or their heir to apologize on behalf of the nation. It wasn’t an easy task as Bob Bratt had to do everything by himself without the help of modern technology.
At one point, he had to go from office to state DMVs personally in order to verify identities and findings. Robert K Bratt talked about how he brought along laptops with them during their travels so they could submit claims immediately. As told by Bratt, “We would travel all over. Seattle, Spokane, San Francisco, Salt Lake. The first two years, we did it every month or so. And {we} would bring laptops to enter claims there on the spot.”
It was no small feat for Bratt to build ORA up from a one-man team to a fully functioning office with a helpline set up for Japanese Americans to submit their claims. For one to be eligible, they would have to be alive the day the bill was passed on August 10, 1988; they had to be living in America as a US citizen or have permanent residency; they also had to be a person of Japanese ancestry.
As someone who used to work in the Justice Department, Robert K Bratt is highly experienced and professional. As the honor of being in charge of ORA was laid on him, Bratt took up the mantle proudly and without hesitation, drawing from his experiences to successfully distribute over $1.6 billion to 82,000 qualifying individuals. In 1994, Irva Greene relieved him of his post but he remained in ORA as an advisor up until the day ORA’s reparations program was terminated.
Today, Bratt is the COO of an international law firm in the private sector where he gives advice on management.