   Home | Who We Are | Past Events | Open Forum | Campaign for Justice | Contact Info | Membership | Links | Search |
||||
|
Home | Who We Are | Past Events | Open Forum | Campaign for Justice | Contact Info | Membership | Links | Search |
||||
|
“Korematsu v. United States” is the theme of the 2010 Day of Remembrance in Little Tokyo on Saturday, February 20 at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), 100 E. Central Ave., Los Angeles. The annual community program commemorates the signing of EO 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942 and the subsequent incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during World War II based on the government’s claim of military necessity. During 1942, Fred Korematsu, a U.S. citizen, disobeyed the government’s order to evacuate and stayed in San Leandro, California. He was arrested and sent to camp. With the help of attorneys Ernest Besig and Wayne Collins of the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union, Korematsu challenged the government’s actions and took his case to the Supreme Court. In 1944, the Court held that the evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans was justified by national security. In the 1980’s Korematsu challenged the court’s earlier decision through a writ of coram nobis. U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel vacated Korematsu’s wartime conviction based on the government’s omission of relevant information during the 1944 case. Lead counsel for Korematsu’s Coram Nobis legal team, Dale Minami, will be the DOR’s keynote speaker. Minami will speak about the relevance of Korematsu’s case to current civil rights issues and the government’s use of “military necessity” and “national security” in abridging citizen’s rights. The Korematsu case is considered one of the most studied and controversial Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. Minami’s San Francisco law firm Minami Tamaki LLP specializes in personal injury law and entertainment law. Much of his work, however, has involved the civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans and other minorities. He is a co-founder of the Asian Law Caucus and the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. Long-time member of the Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR) and community activist, David Monkawa has created the 2010 DOR poster art. The design is a hand-drawn depiction of Korematsu’s arrest in San Leandro on May 30, 1942. Monkawa has designed previous posters for the Los Angeles’ DOR programs. This art piece marks Monkawa’s 10th DOR poster and will be used for outreach and the event’s program design. The DOR program is sponsored by NCRR, the JACL Pacific Southwest District, and JANM. The program begins at 2:00 PM; a reception follows. Admission is free, however, donations are appreciated. For a retrospective of the past DOR programs in Los Angeles, visit NCRR’s website at ncrr-la.org; go to “DOR Archives”. For more information call NCRR at (213) 284-0336, JACL at (213) 626-4471 or the National Museum at (213) 625-0414. ####
|
