San Francisco Supervisors Vote to Approve Memorial to WWII 'Comfort Women'
LatestThe San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed legislation on Tuesday urging the city to build a memorial in remembrance of the approximately 200,000 women who were forced into sex slavery by the Japanese army during World War II. The decision puts pressure on the city to take on the project, but does not actually provide funding.
The resolution, written by Supervisor Eric Mar, was a controversial one—the Japanese government, as well as many Japanese Americans, voiced concerns that a memorial would reignite anti-Japanese sentiments in the U.S. According to Board President London Breed, via KCBS:
“We can build a ‘comfort woman’ memorial to Korean and Chinese victims without it being an attack on Japanese-Americans just as we have built Holocaust museums that are not an attack on German-Americans. They are victims who deserve our respect and lessons we must never forget. We have a moral obligation to remember.”
In order to appease concerns, a sentence was added to the legislation: “Japan is not the only country that has victimized women.”