 
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).
Commemorating Fred Korematsu's 106th Birthday

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