[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 5, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO FRED KOREMATSU

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 5, 2005

  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay my respects to Fred 
Korematsu, who passed away last week at the age of 86. In his early 
years, Mr. Korematsu experienced America at its worst, but he did so as 
an American at his best. Many years later, in large part thanks to Mr. 
Korematsu and his courageous actions, our country atoned for its 
mistakes, and took great steps towards fulfilling the promises entailed 
in our Constitution.
  Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland, California on January 30, 1919. 
An American citizen by birth, Mr. Korematsu was nonetheless among the 
Americans of Japanese heritage ordered to report to World War II 
internment camps in May 1942. He defied the order, choosing instead to 
marry his girlfriend and live the life he believed that, like any other 
American, he was entitled to. That dream did not materialize; in May 
1942 he was caught, arrested and jailed for failing to report as 
ordered.
  Mr. Korematsu maintained that his Constitutional rights had been 
violated by the forced internment order, given without evidence, 
specific charges, or a trial. With the help of the American Civil 
Liberties Union, Mr. Korematsu sued the government and appealed his 
case to the Supreme Court. He lost the landmark Korematsu v. the United 
States by a vote of 6 to 3. In the majority opinion, Justice Hugo Black 
wrote that the internment was based not on ``hostility to him or his 
race'' but on ``military necessity.'' In his dissent, Justice Frank 
Murphy spoke out against the internment in no uncertain terms: it 
``goes over the very brink of constitutional power and falls into the 
ugly abyss of racism.''
  For almost forty years, Fred Korematsu's conviction stood as a black 
mark of U.S. jurisprudence. In the early 1980's Peter Irons--a 
professor of Political Science at University of California, San Diego--
discovered documents in which government intelligence agencies 
categorically denied that Japanese Americans posed any security threat 
whatsoever. For the Supreme Court case, the official reports 
exculpating Japanese-Americans were suppressed. In the course of his 
investigation, Irons unearthed other reports describing government 
claims of Japanese American spying as ``intentional falsehoods.''
  In light of this information, in November 1983 Judge Marilyn Patel of 
the San Francisco Federal District Court overturned Mr. Korematsu's 
conviction. Five years later, the specter of state-endorsed racism was 
finally lifted for all Japanese Americans when federal law provided 
apologies and payments to those wrongfully relocated during the war.
  There is no doubt that Fred's case figured prominently in the quest 
for justice for those American citizens wrongfully interned during the 
war. In 1998, President Clinton acknowledged Mr. Korematsu's role by 
awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest 
civilian award. Like Rosa Parks, who insists she was just tired when 
she took her bus seat in Montgomery, Fred Korematsu was not looking to 
change the world when he refused to be interned. But also just like 
Rosa Parks, his defiance reverberated throughout our country, and 
engendered change as profound as his action was simple.

  Mr. Korematsu spent his years after the war in California realizing 
his dream of a simple life; he worked as draftsman and raised a family. 
He is survived by his wife Kathryn, his son Ken, and his daughter Karen 
Korematsu-Haigh.
  His is a life worth remembering; his defiance a testament to the 
potential for greatness within every ordinary American; his story a 
reminder of the progress our country has made, and a beacon keeping us 
ever hopeful for a better future. In the words of President Clinton, 
``In the long history of our country's constant search for justice, 
some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls . . . 
Plessy, Brown, Parks . . . To that distinguished list, today we add the 
name of Fred Korematsu.''
  Mr. Speaker, Fred Korematsu was an American. He saw a wrong and did 
what he thought was right. With simple courage, he stood up to an 
entire nation and demanded that it make good on its promises. He should 
be remembered and honored, and as common men and women not all that 
different from him, we should strive to walk in his footsteps, fighting 
for equality and justice wherever their defense is needed.

                          ____________________