Advancing Justice | AAJC Signs On To Letter Commending Efforts to Recognize Fred Korematsu as Civil Rights Hero

Dear Representative Takano, Senator Hirono, and Senator Duckworth,

We the undersigned 77 organizations write in strong support of your efforts to recognize Fred Korematsu’s legacy as a civil rights hero. Accordingly, we offer our endorsement and support for the reintroduction of the following legislation in the 119th Congress: (1) Fred Korematsu Congressional Gold Medal Act; (2) Recognizing the importance of establishing a national "Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution"; (3) Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans. In all, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were detained and forcefully removed from their homes for years without charges or due process. Fred Korematsu, an American citizen of Japanese descent was arrested in May of 1942 for refusing to comply with the exclusion order. Korematsu, represented by attorneys from the ACLU, challenged the constitutionality of the forced removal under Executive Order 9066.

Korematsu stood against these unfounded and racist actions. At the time, our institutions — our democracy — failed him. In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of excluding Japanese Americans from the West Coast in a 6-3 Majority in Korematsu v. United States. However, the dissent by Justice Frank Murphy, decried the majority opinion and declared that the order to detain Japanese Americans was the “legalization of racism.” and that “Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life.” 

Read the full letter by clicking below.