Loyal American: Fred Korematsu | BRI’s Homework Help Series
In this Homework Help narrative, learn the story of Fred Korematsu and his lifelong struggle for justice for himself and the thousands of Japanese-Americans wrongfully interned by the U.S. government during World War II.
0:06 Imagine one day suddenly being forced out of your job or school and sent with you and your family to live in an internment camp simply because of your racial and ethnic origins. That’s exactly what happened to Fred Korematsu. Fred was born in 1919 in Oakland, California to Japanese immigrants who arrived in the United States in 19 five.
0:27 He was active in his community and school and worked in his family’s flower business. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fred tried to help the American cause by working as a welder and was even. Promoted to a foreman. Then, in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order calling for the relocation of many Japanese Americans.
0:48 Rather than report to an internment camp, Fred ran from the internment officers for weeks before he was arrested and held in jail in San Francisco. There, he was tried and convicted for failing to obey military orders and sentenced to probation for five years. Fred and his family were then sent to the Central Utah War Relocation Center. Where they were forced to live in a converted horse stall.
1:10 During the time he was imprisoned, Fred was looked down upon by other Japanese Americans who had followed the law in order to show the government that they were loyal Americans. Fred felt isolated, alone, and continued to face discrimination even among people of his own dissent. Even while interned, Fred continued to resist. In the court system,
1:30 he fought to have his conviction overturned. Eventually, the cause made its way to. The Supreme Court, which upheld Fred’s conviction. In 1944, stating that the internment of. Japanese Americans was lawful in times of emergency and peril. Fred Korematsu’s story did not end with his release from the internment camp. He continued to pursue justice for those
1:51 Japanese Americans who were forced into camps because of their ancestry. Decades later, after an in-depth investigation into his case, Fred Korematsu’s conviction was. Officially overturned in 1983. Fred Korematsu’s persistence and courage remind us all that race and ethnicity have nothing to do with being a loyal American citizen.
2:14 As Fred himself said, no one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity or religion as a spy or terrorist.
