Listening to Mr. Doi speak about his experiences in the internment camp, I got a better understanding of what happened and what the Japanese Americans had to go through.  He began by describing his childhood, normal as any other American kid. He said that when he was in middle school, the kids at school didn't pay attention to other races and culture, but when he continued to high school, people began to separate into groups based on race. When the bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbor, all Americans were angered, including Japanese Americans, however, the people of America turned and looked at Japanese Americans as the enemy even though they felt the same way as the rest of the Americans. FDR signed the 9066 which forced all Japanese Americans into concentration camps out of fear that one of them could be spying. He said dispite how horrible the camps were, there were schools so he could continue his studies, and they offered various sports and activities to participate in so he could stay active and have something to do. Mr. Doi spent three years at the camp with his family and when they were finally released, it was difficult to get back into normal life because they losses all of their possessions. A lot of the Japanese Americans lossed businesses that they worked for all of their life and then suddenly had nothing. To compensate for all of these people who had no money of possessions, reparations took place. Each individual who was interned received 20,000 dollars to "make-up" the damage caused, but the amount was minuscule in comparison to the wreckage it had caused the families. In fact, some even refused the money because they saw it as an insult to get so little money when they had lossed everything. Though it was not nearly enough to repair the lives of the Japanese Americans, it was not an unsubstantial amount of money, and did help those who accepted it get back on their feet. One of the positive things about it was how they lived to close to one another, they became good friends with those around them. Each year, a convention is held to meet and reconnect with their internees, but as people get older, the convention gets smaller because their are few still remaining who endured the camps. After hearing his personal story, I felt a deeper empathy for him and all of the other Japanese Americans who were forced to live through such harsh conditions.