[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 27, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4428-S4429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 126--HONORING FRED T. KOREMATSU FOR HIS LOYALTY AND 
   PATRIOTISM TO THE UNITED STATES AND EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES TO HIS 
              FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND SUPPORTERS ON HIS DEATH

  Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Inouye, and Mr. Stevens) submitted the 
following resolution which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 126

       Whereas on January 30, 1919, Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was 
     born in Oakland, California, to Japanese immigrants;
       Whereas Fred Korematsu graduated from Oakland High School 
     and tried on 2 occasions to enlist in the United States Army 
     but was not accepted due to a physical disability;
       Whereas on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United 
     States military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, forcing the 
     United States to enter World War II against Japan, Germany, 
     and Italy;
       Whereas on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. 
     Roosevelt signed Executive Order number 9066 (42 Fed. Reg. 
     1563) as ``protection against espionage and against sabotage 
     to national defense'', which authorized the designation of 
     ``military areas . . . from which any or all persons may be 
     excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person 
     to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever 
     restriction the . . . Military Commander may impose in his 
     discretion'';
       Whereas the United States Army issued Civilian Exclusion 
     Order Number 34, directing that after May 9, 1942, all 
     persons of Japanese ancestry were to be removed from 
     designated areas of the West Coast because they were 
     considered to be a security threat;
       Whereas in response to that Civilian Exclusion Order, Fred 
     Korematsu's family reported to Tanforan, a former racetrack 
     in the San Francisco area that was used as 1 of 15 temporary 
     detention centers, before being sent to an internment camp in 
     Topaz, Utah;
       Whereas more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were similarly 
     detained in 10 permanent War Relocation Authority camps 
     located in isolated desert areas of the States of Arizona, 
     Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, 
     without any charges brought or due process accorded;
       Whereas Fred Korematsu, then 22 years old and working as a 
     shipyard welder in Oakland, California, refused to join his 
     family in reporting to Tanforan, based on his belief that he 
     was a loyal American and not a security threat;
       Whereas on May 30, 1942, Fred Korematsu was arrested and 
     jailed for remaining in a military area, tried in United 
     States district court, found guilty of violating Civilian 
     Exclusion Order Number 34, and sentenced to 5 years of 
     probation;
       Whereas Fred Korematsu unsuccessfully challenged that 
     Civilian Exclusion Order as it applied to him, and appealed 
     the decision of the district court to the United States

[[Page S4429]]

     Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, where his conviction 
     was sustained;
       Whereas Fred Korematsu was subsequently confined with his 
     family in the internment camp in Topaz for 2 years, and 
     during that time, he appealed his conviction to the United 
     States Supreme Court;
       Whereas on December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court issued its 
     decision in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, which 
     upheld Fred Korematsu's conviction by a vote of 6-to-3, based 
     on the finding of the Supreme Court that Fred Korematsu was 
     not removed from his home ``because of hostility to him or 
     his race'' but because the United States was at war with 
     Japan and the United States military ``feared an invasion of 
     our West Coast'';
       Whereas Fred Korematsu continued to maintain his innocence 
     for decades following World War II;
       Whereas, under section 552 of title 5, United States Code 
     (commonly known as the ``Freedom of Information Act''), an 
     historian discovered numerous government documents indicating 
     that, at the time Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 
     was decided, the Federal Government suppressed findings that 
     Japanese Americans on the West Coast were not security 
     threats;
       Whereas in light of this newly discovered information, Fred 
     Korematsu filed a writ of error coram nobis with the United 
     States District Court for the Northern District of 
     California;
       Whereas on November 10, 1983, United States District Judge 
     Marilyn Hall Patel overturned Fred Korematsu's conviction, 
     concluding that senior government officials knew there was no 
     factual basis for the claim of ``military necessity'' when 
     they presented their case before the Supreme Court in 1944;
       Whereas in that decision, Judge Patel stated that, while 
     Korematsu v. United States ``remains on the pages of our 
     legal and political history . . . [as] historical precedent 
     it stands as a constant caution that in times of war or 
     declared military necessity our institutions must be vigilant 
     in protecting constitutional guarantees'';
       Whereas the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment 
     of Civilians, authorized by Congress in 1980 to review the 
     facts and circumstances surrounding the relocation and 
     internment of Japanese Americans under Executive Order Number 
     9066 (42 Fed. Reg. 1563), concluded that ``today the decision 
     in Korematsu lies overruled in the court of history'';
       Whereas the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment 
     of Civilians concluded that a ``grave personal injustice was 
     done to the American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese 
     ancestry who, without individual review or any probative 
     evidence against them were excluded, removed and detained by 
     the United States during World War II'', and that those acts 
     were ``motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime 
     hysteria, and a failure of political leadership'';
       Whereas the overturning of Fred Korematsu's conviction and 
     the findings of Commission on Wartime Relocation and 
     Internment of Civilians influenced the decision by Congress 
     to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. App. 1989b 
     et seq.) to request a Presidential apology and symbolic 
     payment of compensation to persons of Japanese ancestry who 
     lost liberty or property because of discriminatory action by 
     the Federal Government;
       Whereas on August 10, 1988, President Reagan signed that 
     Act into law, stating, ``[H]ere we admit a wrong; here we 
     reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under 
     the law'';
       Whereas on January 15, 1998, President Clinton awarded the 
     Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United 
     States, to Fred Korematsu, stating, ``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.'';
       Whereas Fred Korematsu remained a tireless advocate for 
     civil liberties and justice throughout his life, particularly 
     speaking out against racial discrimination and violence 
     targeting Arab, Muslim, South Asian, and Sikh Americans in 
     the wake of the September 11, 2001, tragedy, and cautioning 
     the Federal Government against repeating mistakes of the past 
     by singling out individuals for heightened scrutiny on the 
     basis of race, ethnicity, or religion;
       Whereas on March 30, 2005, Fred Korematsu died at the age 
     of 86 in Larkspur, California; and
       Whereas Fred Korematsu was a role model for all Americans 
     who love the United States and the promises contained in the 
     Constitution, and his strength and perseverance serve as an 
     inspiration for all people striving for equality and justice: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors Fred T. Korematsu for his loyalty and patriotism 
     to the United States, his work to advocate for the civil 
     rights and civil liberties of all Americans, and his 
     dedication to justice and equality; and
       (2) expresses its deepest condolences to his family, 
     friends, and supporters on his death.

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