In an article on a high school graduation ceremony in California, the Santa Maria Times reports that an "alumni attended the ceremony - to pick up the diploma he never received as a member of the class of 1945. Tetsuo Furukawa was one of the many Japanese-Americans held during the Japanese internment camps of World War II. In his red gown, Furukawa took his diploma and turned his tassel with the rest of the grads." Another local California news oulet contains a similar story regarding other interned Japanese-Americans who are only now receiving their high school diplomas.

As an aside, the Senate's decision to apologize for the lynching of African-Americans and others has prompted many news organizations to remind readers that the Senate formally apologized in 1988 for the internment of those of Japanese ancestry.