Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu (1919 - 2005)
Born in 1919 in Oakland, California, he was the son of Japanese immigrants. But he was also an American. A typical American; working as a welder in a shipyard, with rights to freedom - That is until December 7, 1941. While on a picnic with his Italian-American girlfriend, news of the Pearl Harbor attack flooded the radio, marking the day that would change his life forever.
Two months after the Pearl Harbor attack, Executive Order 9066, the interment of all Japanese American was placed in affect by President Roosevelt. Korematsu's family was forced into Tanforan, a previous racetrack. Fred however, stayed behind, refusing to separate from his girlfriend, but that didn't last very long. He was arrested on May 30, 1942, sent to Tanforan and later transferred to Topaz, an internment camp in Utah.
Korematsu filed a lawsuit against the United States, stating that his civil rights were violated. The court ruled in the U.S. favor and he received a sentence of five years probation. He took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, but the end result was not in his favor. Forty years later, in 1982, his case is brought back into the light. Two years after that, a court ruled in Korematsu's favor, acknowledging the wrongful action that was set upon him.
He receives the Presidential Metal of Freedom award in 1998, awarded to him by President Bill Clinton who states, "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".
Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu, a courageous man who stood up not only for his own civil rights, but the civil rights of all Asian Americans. He was a man who led by personal examples and continued to be a committed activist until his death in 2005. Even so, his legacy lives on to inspire future activists, of all creeds.
