Takano and Hirono Renew Efforts to Award Korematsu Congressional Gold Medal
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WASHINGTON – Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside) and Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) on Feb. 2 introduced bicameral legislation to award Fred Korematsu the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his legacy of fighting against the illegal incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and for being a staunch defender of civil rights.
Fred Korematsu was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“Fred Korematsu was a fierce advocate for justice, a civil rights icon, and a defender of the rights of all people,” said Takano. “In the face of injustice and while human rights atrocities were being carried out by our very own government, he stood up for the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II. During that time and all these years later, he was and will always be an inspiration to every person fighting to make America a more inclusive, just, and equal
California Dedicates Jan. 30 to Fred Korematsu Who Defied Japanese American Concentration Camps
California dedicated Jan. 30 to the memory of Fred Korematsu, a shipyard welder who legally objected to Japanese American “internment” in World War II.
The state holiday, officially the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, was signed into law by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sept. 23, 2010.
“Fred Korematsu did not set out to become a civil rights hero, but his bold decision at the age of 23 to challenge the policy of Japanese internment forever altered the course of history.”@GavinNewsom proclaimed today #FredKorematsuDay. #CaliforniaForAllhttps://t.co/A7k0q96Hx0
California Observes Day For Welder Who Defied Japanese American Incarceration yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Santa Anita Park in Arcadia and Fairplex in Pomona, then known as the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, were both Civilian Assembly Centers, temporary camps where Japanese Americans were sent as they were removed from their communities.
Eventually, most were sent to Relocation Centers, also known as internment camps. Japanese Americans considered to be disruptive or of special interest to the government were sent to Detention Camps.
Korematsu lost an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1944 that the incarceration was justified due to military necessity.
Legal historian Peter Irons and researcher Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga discovered key documents in 1983 that government intelligence agencies had hidden from the Supreme Court before it made its ruling. They consistently showed that Japanese Americans had committed no acts of treason to justify mass incarceration, leading a federal court to overturn Korematsu s conviction.