Korematsu

Lessons from Fred Korematsu

In 1942, after Executive Order 9066, the American government began rounding up people of Japanese descent and forcing them into internment camps. Labeled "enemies", 120,000 Japanese were interned, including many children. Two-thirds were U.S. citizens.

A Japanese American named Fred Korematsu refused to go to an internment camp. For this he was arrested and convicted.

He sued the government and his case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. In Korematsu v. The United States, the court upheld his conviction 6-3, ruling it constitutional. Those were incredibly dark days for America.

What gives me hope is that American values prevailed. It took far too long but in 1983 Fred's conviction was overturned and in 1998 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

There are now over 1.2 million Japanese Americans and they're a bedrock of society. Many of those who were interned went on to become political, business, and cultural leaders in America.

Norman Mineta was 10 years old when he and his family were forced from their homes and into a camp in Wyoming. He went on to become a U.S. Congressman and the first Japanese American to serve in the Cabinet, as Secretary of Commerce under Clinton and Secretary of Transportation under W. Bush.

When

George Takei

was 4 years old he and his family were interned. He spent the next 3 years in 3 camps, behind barbed wires and armed soldiers. He went on to star in Star Trek where he inspired a generation of kids to look to the stars. He also wrote a children's book "My Lost Freedom" to help ensure we never forget what can happen with a cruel, unjust, and inhuman government. As Takei tells us, it's important to remember the damage that unchecked presidential power has caused this country. 

It's even more important for all of us to, like Fred Korematsu, fight relentlessly for a better future. We must choose hope over despair. If we believe we'll overcome the challenges in front of us, we will. We've been through tough times before. With resilience, we prevailed. And we will again.