Assembly Resolution No. 821
BY: M. of A. Raga
COMMEMORATING Fred Korematsu's 106th Birthday
WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize
those milestones and significant events which represent turning points
in our unique history and which are indelibly etched in the saga of our
great Nation; and
WHEREAS, Fred T. Korematsu was born on January 30, 1919, in Oakland,
California, to Japanese immigrants; and
WHEREAS, In February 1942, shortly after Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066,
authorizing the Secretary of War to exclude any or all residents from
certain geographic areas and authorizing federal authorities to provide
transportation, shelter and other accommodations for excluded or
displaced residents; and
WHEREAS, With that authority, the U.S. Army issued orders excluding
more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent, including many U.S.
citizens, from areas on the West Coast and requiring them to report to
internment camps; and
WHEREAS, Those orders included Exclusion Order 34, which as of May
1942 barred "all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien"
from an area near San Francisco Bay and which required Japanese
Americans to report to a Civilian Control Center from which they were
sent to detention centers and internment camps; and
WHEREAS, Korematsu, a resident of that exclusion zone refused to
report because he believed the order violated the basic freedoms
guaranteed to him by the United States Constitution, and was convicted
of violating Exclusion Order 34, sentenced to five years of probation,
and ultimately sent to an internment camp in Utah; and
WHEREAS, Korematsu challenged the constitutionality of his
conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the
exclusion order as a wartime measure and affirmed his conviction; and
WHEREAS, In the early 1980s, the federal Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of Civilians concluded that Executive Order
9066 "was not justified by military necessity, and the decisions which
followed from it-detention, ending detention and ending exclusion-were
not driven by analysis of military conditions" but instead by "race
prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership," and that
"a grave injustice was done to American citizens and resident aliens of
Japanese ancestry"; and
WHEREAS, In April 1984, a federal district court in California
vacated Korematsu's conviction, finding "substantial" evidence that the
government had "deliberately omitted relevant information and provided
misleading information" to the court in prosecuting and convicting
Korematsu; and
WHEREAS, Korematsu remained an activist throughout his life,
fighting for reparations for those who had been interned during World
War II and speaking out after September 11, 2001, against
discrimination, violence and detention based on race, religion, and
ethnicity; and
WHEREAS, In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded Korematsu the Medal
of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor; and
WHEREAS, Until his death in 2005, Fred Korematsu continued to
advocate for civil liberties and justice by speaking out against racial
discrimination at various colleges, law schools, and other
organizations; and
WHEREAS, Exclusion orders subjected New York City residents of
Japanese descent, including American Citizens, to house arrest,
imprisonment on Ellis Island, relocation to distant parts of the U.S.,
and/or deportation from the U.S.; and
WHEREAS, Many other internment-camp survivors eventually settled in
New York- more than 1,100 out of roughly 30,000 people who relocated
from the camps before January 1, 1945, and whose movements could later
be traced came to New York State- and these survivors contributed to the
development of the Japanese American community in New York; and
WHEREAS, Every year on the birthday of Fred Korematsu, there are
events hosted in New York by a plethora of groups, such as the Asian
American Bar Association of New York, JACL-NY (Japanese American
Citizens League - NY Chapter) and NYU Law, to honor and commemorate his
life; and
WHEREAS, These celebrations have ranged from artist performances, a
special reenactment of Korematsu v. United States, to a documentary
screening; and
WHEREAS, Furthermore, NYU Law has hosted an annual event since 2000
in commemoration of Frank Korematsu through a lecture series; this
lecture occurs every year in the heart of New York City, Manhattan, and
after the COVID-19 pandemic, it has expanded over to Zoom to reach more
people in the community; and
WHEREAS, Korematsu's courage in fighting for justice and civil
liberties furthered the cause of equality for Asian Americans and made
him an inspiration to those in New York and across the country; and
WHEREAS, In the course of history, certain events exemplify the
imperative of the human spirit to stand up to oppression; it is
incumbent that we remember such events, and honor those courageous
individuals who fought for justice; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorateFred Korematsu's 106th Birthday; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to JACL-NY (Japanese American Citizens League - NY Chapter).
