UPDATE (July 2003)
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"If you look at Fred Korematsu, you see a very ordinary man who just wanted
to be left alone, but who defied the United States government because he
knew it [the government] was wrong," says John Tateishi, Executive Director
Japanese American Citizens League. OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS recounts the
events that led a quiet, unassuming man to defy the United States government
and wait almost 40 years to prove his innocence.
Born in Oakland, California in 1919, Fred Korematsu is the son of Japanese immigrants.
Until December 7, 1941, Korematsu had been living the life of a typical
American man: he worked as welder in the San Francisco shipyards, owned
a convertible and was very much in love with his girlfriend. However, as
he was enjoying a picnic with his girlfriend on the eve of December 7, news
of the Pearl Harbor attack started pouring out of his radio. Although he
didn't know it at the time, Korematsu's life would never be the same again.
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which ordered the internment of all Japanese Americans. The Korematsu family was taken to Tanforan, a former racetrack south of San Francisco for processing. Korematsu decided to stay behind because he did not want to be separated from his Italian-American girlfriend.
Korematsu refused to relinquish his freedom and tried to remain unnoticed, to no avail. On May 30,1942, Korematsu was arrested and
sent to join Tanforan. Later, all the detainees were transferred to the
Topaz internment camp in Utah.
Persuaded by Ernest Besig, then Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California,
Korematsu filed a case on June 12, 1942. The premise of the lawsuit was
that Korematsu's constitutional rights had been violated and he had suffered
racial discrimination. However, the court ruled against Korematsu and he
was sentenced to 5 years probation. Determined to pursue his cause, Korematsu
filed an appeal with Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and, later, to the U.S.
Supreme Court. However, in December 1944, the Supreme Court ruled against
him, stating that Korematsu "was not excluded from the military area because
of hostility to him or his race."
In OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS, Korematsu says he felt that, "I'm an American and just
as long as I'm in this country that I will keep on going and if there is
a chance of reopening the case, I will do it." This chance came in the form
of Peter Irons, a law professor, researching the internment for a book.
Irons discovered long-forgotten documents that proved that the Justice Department
had misrepresented the facts to the Supreme Court. He took this evidence
to Fred Korematsu, and they both decided to re-open the case.
Peter Irons then enlisted a legal team consisting mainly of Asian-American lawyers. OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS is, in part, the story of these
idealistic young lawyers and their own fight to end the discrimination that
also touched the lives of their family and community members. Their efforts
ultimately uncovered documents that clearly showed the government concealed evidence in the 1944 case that racism — not military necessity —
motivated the internment order. More than 39 years after the fact, a federal
judge reversed Fred Korematsu's conviction, acknowledging the "great wrong"
done to him.
In 1998, Fred Korematsu was awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom award, the nation's highest civilian honor. Former President Clinton praised Korematsu at the ceremony, stating that "In the long history of our country's constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stands for millions of souls — Plessy, Brown, Parks. To that distinguished list today we add the name of Fred Korematsu."
UPDATE (July 2003)
Nearing his 85th birthday, Fred Korematsu remains a tireless advocate for civil rights. Concerned about reports of harassment and possible illegal detentions in the wake of the September 11 tragedy, Fred continues to speak out against the backlash against Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim communities that have become the targets of discrimination and violence.
"There are Arab-Americans today who are going through what Japanese Americans experienced years ago, and we can't let that happen again," says Korematsu. "I met someone years ago who had never heard about the roundup of Japanese-Americans. It's been 60 years since this [arrest] happened, and it's happening again, and that's why I continue to talk about what happened to me."
Since the film's P.O.V. premiere broadcast, Fred and director Eric Paul Fournier have responded to numerous requests to show the film and speak at high schools, universities and law schools, as well as events and organizations that deal with issues of human rights, civil liberties, and racial profiling throughout the United States, with the goal of widening the discussions of the lessons learned by the WWII incarceration and exclusion of Japanese-Americans and relate them to the events that have unfolded in the wake of the World Trade Center attack and their impact.
In spite of their advanced age, Fred and Kathryn Korematsu have participated at screenings throughout the United States, many including panel discussions attended by Eric Paul Fournier and various members of Fred's legal team.
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