The daughter of late civil rights icon, Fred Korematsu, will be this year’s Constitution Day featured speaker at the Robert H. Jackson Center.
Center President Kristan McMahon said Dr. Karen Korematsu is the Founder and President of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute and the daughter of the late civil rights icon, Fred Korematsu, “That organization and her father’s legacy are much focused on civics, civic education, how to help students understand the role that they play, and that even for those who are under 18 and not able to vote yet that they have a voice; and how to impact their communities. So that will be a lot of what she’s talking about while she’s with us.”
Dr. Korematsu will speak at the Carl Cappa Theatre at 10:00 a.m. this morning. The event is free and open to the public.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of Korematsu v. United States a landmark 1944 Supreme Court case.
McMahon said this case upheld the constitutionality of executive order 9066, ordering Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II, “And what that basically was was an exclusion order for the west coast. So, Pearl Harbor has been bombed. There is some concern that there may be Japanese or Japanese American traitors or people who are in contact with Japan that might help with an invasion of the mainland. So, the military has asked of anyone, really, of Japanese or Japanese American extraction to be removed from the west coast, so from Bainbridge Island in Washington all the way down to California and the coast of Mexico. There are about 120,000 people who are displaced. Two-thirds of them are American citizens.”
The Court ruled in a 6 to 3 decision that the exclusion order was permissible executive action.
The dissenting justices, including Jackson, argued that the exclusion order violated personal liberties and equal protection guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. They stated that there was no evidence of disloyalty among the affected population to justify such restrictions. The majority opinion is widely criticized today for setting a precedent that government practices of racial discrimination are permissible during wartime.
Dr. Korematsu has been interviewed on radio, podcasts, and TV. Her Op/Eds have appeared in the NY Times and Washington Post. She has received numerous awards and honors for her work.
Constitution Day recognizes U.S. Congress’ adoption of the United States Constitution in 1787 and, since 1941, as also Citizenship Day to honor all who are U.S. citizens regardless of their path to attainment.
All institutions receiving federal funding, including funding through the U.S. Department of Education, are required to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution in September.
Leave a Reply