was an American
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
activist who resisted the
internment of Japanese Americans
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Shortly after the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
launched its
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
issued
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
, which authorized the removal of individuals
of Japanese ancestry living on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
from their homes and their mandatory imprisonment in
incarceration
Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
camps, but Korematsu instead challenged the orders and became a
fugitive
A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
.
The legality of Roosevelt's order was upheld by the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in ''
Korematsu v. United States'' (1944).
However, Korematsu's conviction for evading internment was overturned four decades later in
US District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
, after the disclosure of new evidence challenging its necessity, which had been withheld from the courts by the U.S. government during the war. Eventually, the ''Korematsu'' ruling itself was formally condemned seventy-four years later in ''
Trump v. Hawaii
''Trump v. Hawaii'', No. 17-965, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case involving Presidential Proclamation 9645 signed by President Donald Trump, which restricted travel into the United States by people from sever ...
'', 585 U.S. ___ (2018).
["''Trump v. Hawaii''"](_blank)
(June 26, 2018)
To commemorate his journey as a
civil rights activist
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
posthumously, "
Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution" was observed for the first time on his 92nd birthday, January 30, 2011, by the state of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, the first such commemoration for an
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
in the United States. In 2015,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
passed legislation to make it the second state to permanently recognize each January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day.
The
Fred T. Korematsu Institute was founded in 2009 to carry on Korematsu's legacy as a civil rights advocate by educating and advocating for civil liberties for all communities.
Youth
Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was born in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, on January 30, 1919, the third of four sons to
Japanese parents Kakusaburo Korematsu and Kotsui Aoki, who immigrated to the United States in 1905. Korematsu resided continuously in Oakland from his birth until the time of his arrest. He attended public schools, participated in the
Castlemont High School
Castlemont High School is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, originally known as East Oakland High School. It is part of the Oakland Unified School District. The Castlemont name was selected by a vote of the students.
...
(Oakland, California) tennis and swim teams, and worked in his family's flower
nursery in nearby
San Leandro, California
San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sou ...
. He encountered
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
in high school when a U.S. Army recruiting officer was handing out recruiting flyers to Korematsu's non-Japanese friends. The officer told Korematsu, "We have orders not to accept you."
[Chin, Steven A. ''When Justice Failed: The Fred Korematsu Story''. Ed. Alex Haley. Raintree, 1992, p. 20.] Even his girlfriend Ida Boitano's Italian parents felt that people of Japanese descent were inferior and unfit to mix with white people.
[Chin, Steven A. ''When Justice Failed: The Fred Korematsu Story''. Ed. Alex Haley. Raintree, 1992, p. 10.]
World War II
When called for military duty under the
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940
The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke–Wadsworth Act, , was the first peacetime conscription in United States history. This Selective Service Act required that men who had reached their 21st birthday b ...
, Korematsu was formally rejected by the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
due to
stomach ulcers
Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines ...
, but it is believed that he was actually rejected on the basis of his Japanese descent. Instead, he trained to become a
welder in order to contribute his services to the defense effort. First, he worked as a welder at a shipyard. He went in one day to find his timecard missing; his coworkers hastily explained to him that he was Japanese so therefore he was not allowed to work there. He then found a new job, but was fired after a week when his supervisor returned from an extended vacation to find him working there.
Because of his Japanese descent, Korematsu lost all employment completely following the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
.
On March 27, 1942, General
John L. DeWitt
John Lesesne DeWitt (January 9, 1880 – June 20, 1962) was a 4-star general officer in the United States Army, best known for leading the Japanese American internment, internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
After the attack on Pe ...
, commander of the
Western Defense Area, prohibited Japanese Americans from leaving the limits of Military Area No. 1, in preparation for their eventual evacuation to internment camps. Korematsu underwent plastic surgery on his eyelids in an unsuccessful attempt to pass as a Caucasian, changed his name to Clyde Sarah and claimed to be of Spanish and Hawaiian heritage.
![Stalls at Tanforan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Stalls_at_Tanforan.jpg)
When on May 3, 1942, General DeWitt ordered Japanese Americans to report on May 9 to Assembly Centers as a prelude to being removed to the internment camps, Korematsu refused and went into hiding in the
Oakland area. He was arrested on a street corner in
San Leandro
San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...
on May 30, 1942, and held at a jail in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. Shortly after Korematsu's arrest,
Ernest Besig
Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People
*Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman ...
, the director of the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
in northern California, asked him whether he would be willing to use his case to test the legality of the Japanese American internment. Korematsu agreed, and was assigned civil rights attorney
Wayne M. Collins.
But the national ACLU in fact argued for Besig, its own district director, not to fight Korematsu's case, since many high-ranking members of the ACLU were close to President Roosevelt and the ACLU didn't want to be viewed negatively during a time of war. Besig decided to take Korematsu's case despite this.
Korematsu felt that "people should have a fair trial and a chance to defend their loyalty at court in a democratic way, because in this situation, people were placed in imprisonment without any fair trial". On June 12, 1942, Korematsu had his trial date and was given $5,000 bail (). After Korematsu's arraignment on June 18, 1942, Besig posted bail and he and Korematsu attempted to leave. When met by
military police
Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...
, Besig told Korematsu to go with them. The military police took Korematsu to the
Presidio
A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th century, 16th and 18th century, 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Captaincy Genera ...
. Korematsu was tried and convicted in
federal court on September 8, 1942, for a violation of Public Law No. 503, which criminalized the violations of military orders issued under the authority of
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...
, and was placed on five years'
probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
. He was taken from the courtroom and returned to the
Tanforan Assembly Center
The Tanforan Assembly Center was created to temporarily detain nearly 8,000 Japanese Americans, mostly from the San Francisco Bay Area, under the auspices of Executive Order 9066. After the order was signed in February 1942, the Wartime Civil Cont ...
, and thereafter he and his family were placed in the
Central Utah War Relocation Center in
Topaz, Utah
The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp which housed Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come t ...
. As an unskilled laborer, he was eligible to receive only $12 per month () for working eight-hour days at the camp. He was placed in a horse stall with a single light bulb, and later said "jail was better than this".
![Dorothea Lange - American internees in mess hall line at Tanforan Assembly Center San Bruno CA April 29 1942](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Dorothea_Lange_-_American_internees_in_mess_hall_line_at_Tanforan_Assembly_Center_San_Bruno_CA_April_29_1942.gif)
Some hailed, but others criticized, Korematsu's actions. Many Japanese residents living on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
cooperated with the government internment order, hoping to prove their loyalty as Americans, including members of the
Japanese American Citizens League. Korematsu was thus disdained for his opposition to a government order, and was even seen as a threat in the eyes of many Japanese Americans. When Korematsu's family was moved to the Topaz internment camp, he later recalled feeling isolated because his imprisoned compatriots recognized him and many, if not most, of them felt that if they talked to him they would also be seen as troublemakers.
Korematsu then appealed to the
U.S. Court of Appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...
, which granted review on March 27, 1943, but upheld the original verdict on January 7, 1944. He appealed again and brought his case to the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, which granted review on March 27, 1944. On December 18, 1944, in a 6–3 decision authored by
Justice Hugo Black, the Court held that compulsory exclusion, though constitutionally suspect, was justified during circumstances of "emergency and peril".
However, the Court also decided ''
Ex parte Endo
''Ex parte Mitsuye Endo'', 323 U.S. 283 (1944), was a United States Supreme Court ''ex parte'' decision handed down on December 18, 1944, in which the Justices unanimously ruled that the U.S. government could not continue to detain a citizen wh ...
'' in December 1944 to grant
Mitsuye Endo
Mitsuye Maureen Endo Tsutsumi (May 10, 1920 – April 14, 2006) was an American woman of Japanese descent who was placed in an internment camp during World War II. Endo filed a writ of habeas corpus that ultimately led to a United States Supre ...
her liberty from the camps because the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
and
War Relocation Authority
The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...
conceded that Endo was a "loyal and law-abiding citizen" and that no authority existed for detaining loyal citizens longer than necessary to separate the loyal from the disloyal. Endo's case did not address the question of whether the initial removal itself was constitutional, as did Korematsu's case.
Later adult life and compensation
![Fred Korematsu and Family](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Fred_Korematsu_and_Family.jpg)
After being released from the camp in Utah, Korematsu had to move east since the law would not allow former internees to move back westward. He moved to
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, where he continued to fight racism. He still knew there were inequalities among the Japanese, since he experienced them in his everyday life. He found work repairing water tanks in Salt Lake City, but after three months on the job, he discovered he was being paid half of what his white coworkers were being paid. He told his boss that this was unfair and asked to be paid the same amount, but his boss only threatened to call the police and try to get him arrested just for being Japanese, so he left his job. After this incident, Korematsu lost hope, remaining quiet for over thirty years. His own daughter did not find out about what her father did until she was in high school.
Peter Irons
Peter H. Irons (born August 11, 1940) is an American political activist, civil rights attorney, legal scholar, and professor emeritus of political science. He has written many books on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional litigation.
Educ ...
said that Korematsu "felt responsible for the internment in a sort of backhanded way, because his case had been lost in the Supreme Court." He moved to
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
, where his younger brother lived, and where he worked as a
draftsman
A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for m ...
until 1949. He married Kathryn Pearson in Detroit on October 12, 1946. They returned to Oakland to visit his family in 1949 because his mother was ill. They did not intend to stay, but decided to after Kathryn became pregnant with their first child, Karen. His daughter was born in 1950, and a son, Ken, in 1954.
In 1976, President
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
signed a proclamation formally terminating Executive Order 9066 and apologizing for the internment, stated: "We now know what we should have known then—not only was that evacuation wrong but Japanese-Americans were and are loyal Americans. On the battlefield and at home the names of Japanese-Americans have been and continue to be written in history for the sacrifices and the contributions they have made to the well-being and to the security of this, our common Nation." In 1980, President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
appointed a special commission to investigate the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, which concluded that the decisions to remove those of Japanese ancestry to prison camps occurred because of "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". In 1988, President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
signed the
Civil Liberties Act of 1988
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (, title I, August 10, 1988, , et seq.) is a United States federal law that granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been wrongly interned by the United States government during World War II. The act was ...
which had been sponsored by Representative
Norman Mineta
Norman Yoshio Mineta ( ja, 峯田 良雄, November 12, 1931 – May 3, 2022) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Mineta served in the United States Cabinet for Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a ...
and Senator
Alan K. Simpson. It provided financial redress of $20,000 for each surviving detainee, totaling $1.2 billion.
In the early 1980s, while researching a book on internment cases, lawyer and
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
professor Peter Irons came across evidence that
Charles Fahy
Charles Fahy (August 27, 1892 – September 17, 1979) was an American lawyer and judge who served as the 26th Solicitor General of the United States and later served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Di ...
, the
Solicitor General of the United States
The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021.
The United States solicitor general represent ...
who argued ''Korematsu v. United States'' before the Supreme Court, had deliberately suppressed reports from the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
and military intelligence which concluded that Japanese-American citizens posed no security risk . These documents revealed that the military had lied to the Supreme Court and that government lawyers had willingly made false arguments . Irons concluded that the Supreme Court's decision was invalid since it was based on unsubstantiated assertions, distortions and misrepresentations . Along with a team of lawyers headed by
Dale Minami
Dale Minami (born October 13, 1946) is a prominent Japanese American civil rights and personal injury lawyer based in San Francisco, California. He is best known for his work leading the legal team that overturned the conviction of Fred Korematsu ...
, Irons petitioned for writs of error ''
coram nobis
A writ of ''coram nobis'' (also writ of error ''coram nobis'', writ of ''coram vobis'', or writ of error ''coram vobis'') is a legal order allowing a court to correct its original judgment upon discovery of a fundamental error that did not appear i ...
'' with the federal courts, seeking to overturn Korematsu's conviction.
![Korematsu Coram Nobis Press Conference](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Korematsu_Coram_Nobis_Press_Conference.jpg)
On November 10, 1983, Judge
Marilyn Hall Patel
Marilyn Hall Patel (born 1938) is a former United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Patel is Indian-American, hailing from the famous Mumbai Patel famil ...
of
U.S. District Court in San Francisco formally vacated the conviction. Korematsu testified before Judge Patel, "I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color." He also said, "If anyone should do any pardoning, I should be the one pardoning the government for what they did to the Japanese-American people." Irons described Korematsu's ending statement during the case as the most powerful statement he'd ever heard from anyone. He found the statement as empowering as
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
's 1963 "
I Have a Dream
"I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...
" speech.
Judge Patel's ruling cleared Korematsu's name, but was incapable of overturning the Supreme Court's decision.
President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...
, the highest civilian honor in the United States, to Korematsu in 1998, saying, "In the long history of our country's constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls:
Plessy,
Brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...
,
Parks
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
... to that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu." That year, Korematsu served as the
Grand Marshal
Grand marshal is a ceremonial, military rank, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "marshal" with the first usage of the term "grand marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders. ...
of San Francisco's annual Cherry Blossom Festival parade.
A member and Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, Korematsu was twice President of the San Leandro
Lions Club
The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, ...
, and for 15 years a volunteer with
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
, San Francisco Bay Council.
Korematsu spoke out after September 11, 2001, on how the United States government should not let the same thing happen to people of Middle Eastern descent as what happened to Japanese Americans. When prisoners were detained at Guantanamo Bay for too long a period, in Korematsu's opinion, he filed two
''amicus curiae'' briefs with the Supreme Court and warned them not to repeat the mistakes of the Japanese internment.
He wrote the first of these ''amicus'' briefs in October 2003 for two cases appealed before the Supreme Court of the United States, ''
Shafiq Rasul v. George W. Bush'' and ''Khaled A.F. Al Odah v. United States of America''. Attorneys Arturo J. Gonzalez and Sylvia M. Sokol of
Morrison & Foerster LLP, and Jon B. Streeter and Eumi K. Lee of Keker & Van Nest LLP, worked on the ''amicus curiae'' brief. In the brief, Korematsu warned the Supreme Court that the restriction of civil liberties can never be justified, and had never been justified in the history of the United States. Furthermore, Korematsu provided examples of specific cases in American history in which the government exceeded constitutional authority, including the
Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States. The Naturalization Act increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act allowed th ...
of 1798 and the Japanese internment of World War II. Korematsu thus reacted critically to the administration of President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, who imprisoned detainees in Guantanamo Bay by restricting their civil liberties albeit in a time of, according to the respondent, "military necessity".
![Fred Korematsu during interview with 60 Minutes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Fred_Korematsu_during_interview_with_60_Minutes.jpg)
Similarly, in his second ''amicus'' brief, written in April 2004 with the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Asian Law Caucus, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach and the Japanese American Citizens League, Korematsu responded to ''
Donald Rumsfeld v. Jose Padilla''. The following attorneys worked on the ''amicus'' brief: Geoffrey R. Stone and Dale Minami of Minami, Lew, and Tamaki LLP;
Eric K. Yamamoto,
Stephen J. Schulhofer of the Brennan Center for Justice; and
Evan R. Chesler of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. The amici curiae's statement of interest emphasized the similarity of the unlawful detainment of Fred Korematsu during World War II and that of Jose Padilla following the events of 9/11, and warned the American government of repeating mistakes of the past. He believed that "full vindication for the Japanese-Americans will arrive only when we learn that, even in times of crisis, we must guard against prejudice and keep uppermost our commitment to law and justice."
From 2001 until his death, Korematsu served on the
Constitution Project
The Constitution Project is a non-profit think tank in the United States whose goal is to build bipartisan consensus on significant constitutional and legal questions. Its founder and president is Virginia Sloan. The Constitution Project’s work ...
's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee. Discussing racial profiling in 2004, he warned, "No one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist. If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans, then these are very dangerous times for our democracy."
Death
![Gravestone fred korematsu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Gravestone_fred_korematsu.JPG)
Fred Korematsu died of respiratory failure at his daughter's home in
Marin County, California
Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...
, on March 30, 2005. One of the last things Korematsu said was, "I'll never forget my government treating me like this. And I really hope that this will never happen to anybody else because of the way they look, if they look like the enemy of our country."
He also urged others to "protest, but not with violence, and don’t be afraid to speak up. One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years." Korematsu was buried at the
Mountain View Cemetery.
Legacy
The Fred T. Korematsu Institute carries Korematsu's name to continue his work with teachers and community leaders across the country to promote Korematsu's fight for justice and civil liberties.
The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at the
Seattle University School of Law
Seattle University School of Law, or Seattle Law School, or SU Law (formerly University of Puget Sound School of Law) is the law school affiliated with Seattle University, the Northwest's largest independent university.
The School is accredite ...
"advance
justice and equality through research, advocacy, and education" and houses The Defender Initiative and the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project.
On May 24, 2011, U.S. Acting Solicitor General
Neal Katyal
Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and academic. He is a partner at Hogan Lovells and the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center. During the Obama administrati ...
delivered the keynote speech at the Department of Justice's Great Hall marking Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Developing comments he had posted officially on May 20, Katyal issued the Justice Department's first public confession of its 1942 ethics lapse. He cited the Korematsu case and the similar precedent of
Gordon Hirabayashi
was an American sociologist, best known for his principled resistance to the Japanese American internment during World War II, and the court case which bears his name, '' Hirabayashi v. United States''.
Early life
Hirabayashi was born in Seatt ...
as blots on the reputation of the Office of the Solicitor General, which aspires to deserve "special credence" when pleading cases before the Supreme Court, and thus "an important reminder" of the need for absolute candor in arguing the United States government's position on every case.
In 2018, in ''
Trump v. Hawaii
''Trump v. Hawaii'', No. 17-965, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case involving Presidential Proclamation 9645 signed by President Donald Trump, which restricted travel into the United States by people from sever ...
'', the Supreme Court expressly declared that Korematsu's case was wrongly decided, but did not formally overrule it.
Other dedications and honors include the following:
* Fred T. Korematsu Elementary School at Mace Ranch in
Davis, California
Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...
, is named for Korematsu.
![San Leandro High School (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/San_Leandro_High_School_%28cropped%29.jpg)
* The auxiliary campus at
San Leandro High School
San Leandro High School (SLHS) is a four-year public high school in San Leandro, California, USA.
It is often cited as the only comprehensive high school in the San Leandro Unified School District (SLUSD).
Academics
Academic courses include ...
is named the Fred T. Korematsu Campus in honor of Korematsu.
* The Discovery Academy elementary school in Oakland, California, was renamed Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy.
*
Portola Middle School was renamed The Fred T Korematsu Middle School in El Cerrito, California, at the new campus location formerly Castro Elementary School site.
* In 1988, a street in San Jose, California was renamed Korematsu Court.
* There is a Korematsu bronze relief in front of the San Jose Federal Building.
* Awards in his name include the
Alameda County
Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...
Bar Association's
ABA Liberty Bell Award and the American Muslim Voices Korematsu Civil Rights Award.
* On September 23, 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California signed into law a bill that designates January 30 of each year as the
Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, a first for an Asian American in the United States.
It was observed for the first time on January 30, 2011. The main celebration of the
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
state was held at the Wheeler Auditorium on the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
campus, sponsored by the Korematsu Institute, a non-profit program co-founded by Korematsu's daughter Karen Korematsu to advance racial equity, social justice, and human rights as well as the Asian Law Caucus, a San Francisco-based civil rights organization. The event included presentations by the Rev.
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...
and a screening of the Emmy Award-winning film ''Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story''.
* In 2015, the
Commonwealth of Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...
established January 30 as "Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution" beginning in 2016.
* Since 2010, Hawaii, Utah, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida have all commemorated "Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution".
* Korematsu was the first Asian American featured in "The Struggle for Justice", a permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian's
National Portrait Gallery.
* On January 30, 2017, to commemorate what would have been his 98th birthday, Korematsu was honored with a front-page
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
.
* On December 19, 2017, the New York City Council unanimously passed a resolution establishing January 30 annually as Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution. The resolution's main sponsor was Council Member Daniel Dromm of Queens.
* On October 27, 2021, Korematsu posthumously received the
Freedom Medal from the
Roosevelt Institute
The Roosevelt Institute is a liberal American think tank. According to the organization, it exists "to carry forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by developing progressive ideas and bold leadership in the service of rest ...
.
See also
*
Day of Remembrance (Japanese Americans)
The Day of Remembrance (DOR, ja, 追憶の日, ''Tsuioku no Hi'') is a day of observance for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Events in numerous U.S. states, especially in the West Coast, are held on or near February ...
*
Japanese American redress and court cases
The following article focuses on the movement to obtain redress for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and significant court cases that have shaped civil and human rights for Japanese Americans and other minorities. These ...
*
List of civil rights leaders
Civil rights leaders are influential figures in the promotion and implementation of political freedom and the expansion of personal civil liberties and rights. They work to protect individuals and groups from political repressio ...
*
List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
This is a partial list of recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, listed chronologically within the aspect of life in which each recipient is or was renowned.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded by the president of the United ...
*
Minoru Yasui
was an American lawyer from Oregon. Born in Hood River, Oregon, he earned both an undergraduate degree and his law degree at the University of Oregon. He was one of the few Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor who fought laws th ...
*
Movements for civil rights in the United States
Notes
References
Further reading
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External links
"One person can make a difference. Even if it takes 40 years." Fred Korematsu Day, 1/30/2014Topaz Japanese-American Relocation Center Digital Collection ''Japanese Relocation'' (1943 FILM- viewable for free at not-for profit- The Internet Archive)*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Korematsu, Fred
1919 births
2005 deaths
Japanese-American civil rights activists
Japanese-American internees
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Activists from Oakland, California
People from San Leandro, California
Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)
Deaths from respiratory failure
Overturned convictions in the United States
Transitional justice
Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award