He tried to keep in contact with Ida, but he never saw her again.įred was transported from Tanforan after charges were filed against him for violating the law by “remain in that portion of Military Area No.1 covered by Civilian Exclusion Order no.34.” Bail was set at $2,500 and Besig paid the bail immediately. Fred Korematsu received the same response from others in the camp. He felt incredibly lonely and isolated. On June 28th, Fred Korematsu was transferred to Tanforan Racetrack, a fairground that incarcerated thousands of individuals, including his family. They were reunited but incredibly upset about his arrest and his choice to fight his case. He warned Korematsu that his chances of winning were slim but that Besig wanted to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A guard told him he had a visitor and took him to meet a young man in a grey suit: Ernest Besig. Besig was an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and wanted to support Korematsu in fighting his arrest. This is where he would have one of the most important meetings of his life. He went so far as to forge his identification to say his name was Clyde Sarah and got a job as a welder. However, on May 30th, an officer stopped Fred and his girlfriend on the street, arresting him on the spot. After a short time in county jail, Korematsu was transferred to the Presidio Stockade. Until he could make plans to leave the West Coast, Korematsu decided to stay in the Bay Area. To be accused like this, I just thought it wasn’t fair. I don’t even have ties with Japan nor have I ever been there. On Maall individuals of Japanese Ancestry were to report to Assembly Centers where they would be held until the permanent camps were finished. The Korematsu family leased their flower nursery before leaving. Fred had other plans. He said, “I decided to leave… way from the family because there was so much sadness to be pushed into evacuation, threatened with punishment, because you look like the enemy is wrong… I felt that I was an American citizen and I had as much rights as anyone else.
The order itself did not have language based on race, but granted military authority to declare areas “from which any or all persons may be excluded”.
#KOREMATSU V UNITED STATES 1944 FULL#
Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, giving full authority to the War Department to carry out DeWitt’s plan. DeWitt at the Presidio Army Base made plans and justifications for the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Reports of disloyalty circulated through the media, however there were no examples of sabotage by any Japanese Americans throughout the war. Despite this, Lieutenant General John L. Roosevelt declared all immigrants of Japanese descent over the age of fourteen were “alien enemies”. Paranoia around espionage and sabotage greatly increased on the West Coast. Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute
Korematsu (center, left) with his parents and brothers at the Stonehurst Flower Nursery that the family owned and operated in East Oakland. I said to Ida, ‘We better get back home." The next day President Franklin D. People never did recognize us as Americans even though how much we tried to be American. He was in a relationship with Ida Boitano. On December 7th 1941, “all of a sudden, the music stopped and they announced that Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese airplanes. At first, I thought it was a dream. Korematsu lived with his parents and three brothers who all helped out in the family-owned flower nursery.īy 1938, Fred Korematsu was a 19-year-old in love. He used this name for the rest of his life.
Fred Korematsu was originally named Toyosaburo, but a teacher suggested he go by Fred instead because it’s “easier”. His father, Kakusaburo Korematsu, came to the US in 1905 and his mother Kotsui Korematsu, came to California through Angel Island in 1914. Oakland, WWIIįred Korematsu was born on January 30th 1919 in Oakland California to parents who had immigrated to the United States from Japan. Fred Korematsu fought his conviction and internment with his case making it to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was arrested and held in the Presidio Stockade until being sent to the camps. Fred Korematsu was a civil rights leader and pioneer. When the Army forced Japanese Americans into concentration camps during WWII, Fred Korematsu refused to comply with the orders.
0 kommentar(er)
