Fred Korematsu Day

Today is California's first Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, so my blip today honors the memory this courageous Oaklander.

Born and raised in California, Korematsu refused to go to a Japanese American interrnment camp during World War II. He was arrested and convicted but appealed the conviction all the way to the Supreme Court. Although the court upheld his conviction, four decades later it was overturned when a professor uncovered evidence that intelligence agencies knew at the time that Japanese Americans had committed no treason. Korematsu continued to work for civil liberties until his death at age 86. As this tombstone mentions, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. Today, there are schools, buildings, streets, and civil liberties groups that bear his name.