Last Wednesday, Fred Korematsu, a hero of American civil rights, died at the age of 86. Mr. Korematsu was an inspiration to all of us, and the moment of his passing provides a perfect opportunity to stop and remember how precious our rights truly are.
Korematsu litigated a landmark case against internment of the Japanese all the way to the Supreme Court. In a now-infamous 6-3 decision, the Court ruled against him, holding that military necessity justified the internment. Forty years later, the federal courts finally got it right, noting that our Constitutional rights are too precious to treat lightly, even in times of war.
The son of Japanese immigrants, Korematsu was an American citizen by birth. During World War II, 120,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to internment camps away from the West Coast. As a person of Japanese dissent, Korematsu was required by law to report for internment \as protection against espionage and sabotage.""
He was willing to do no such thing. However, despite undergoing plastic surgery to disguise his Asian heritage, Korematsu was arrested in 1942 and convicted of failing to report to an internment camp.
With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, he appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court, alleging he was the victim of a racist policy and was denied his Constitutional rights. The Court held that laws discriminating based on race must undergo the strictest scrutiny available, but in Korematsu's case the government had provided a compelling reason to continue internment-fear of an invasion of the West Coast. Over strongly-worded dissent, which noted that this abominable policy went ""over the very brink of constitutional power and [fell] into the ugly abyss of racism,"" Korematsu's conviction was upheld.
And so it remained for nearly 40 years, until a team of pro bono attorneys reopened his case with newfound documents showing the government had suppressed its own findings that Japanese Americans were no threat to national security. The judge who finally overturned Korematsu's conviction wrote that the case stood ""as a constant caution that in times of war or declared military necessity our institutions must be vigilant in protecting our constitutional guarantees. It stands as a caution that in times of distress the shield of military necessity and national security must not be used to protect governmental actions from close scrutiny and accountability."" We would be well advised to remember these words today.
The internment of the Japanese in World War II presents clear parallels to efforts to limit civil rights of Arabs, and others, today.
Then the attack on Pearl Harbor made people afraid and raised the specter of racism against Asians. Today, the Sept. 11 attacks have raised those same fears and roused racism against Arabs. Then, as now, these assaults on our basic rights were cloaked in the guise of national security. The only difference is that now they have the gall to disguise their contempt for American freedoms behind the name ""USA Patriot Act."" Patriots fight to keep America free, but true patriots never sacrifice freedoms.
Nor were these similarities lost on Korematsu himself. In 2004, he wrote an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle proclaiming, ""Fears and prejudices directed against minority communities are too easy to evoke and exaggerate, often to serve the political agendas of those who promote those fears. I know what it is like to be at the other end of such scapegoating and how difficult it is to clear one's name after unjustified suspicions are endorsed as fact by the government. If someone is a spy or terrorist, they should be prosecuted for their actions. But no one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity or religion as a spy or terrorist. If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans, then these are very dangerous times for our democracy.""
Fortunately, Fred Korematsu's story has a happy ending. After his vindication in the courts, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Bill Clinton. He is survived by his wife and two children. He led a long, full life. In both his life and death, he inspired us to greater stewardship of our civil rights. We should all take a moment to mourn the passing of this American hero, and reflect on how his struggle shows the need to hold the government accountable, even in times of war. He will be missed, but not forgotten.
opinion@dailycardinal.
