By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) has joined 77 other organizations to honor community advocate Fred T. Korematsu on what would have been his 106th birthday on Jan. 30 by celebrating the introduction of two House bills meant to recognize Korematsu’s contributions to civil rights.
One bill, H.R. 77, would designate Jan. 30 as “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” and the other, H.R. 821, would posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Korematsu to recognize his contributions to civil rights, and his loyalty and patriotism.
In an act of resistance and demand for justice, Korematsu refused to comply with the U.S. government’s WWII exclusion orders, which resulted in the incarceration of more than 125,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans.
Though Korematsu lost his fight in the United States Supreme Court, this loss has since been recognized as “one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice” in U.S. history, a JACL press release said.
“Korematsu was vindicated by the revelatory findings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians that determined there was no credible security threat from Japanese Americans and nevertheless proceeded to incarcerate Japanese Americans based on racism and failure of leadership,” the press release continued.