Suffolk University Law Review

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Suffolk University Law Review SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW Volume L 2017 Number 2 Journey Towards Justice: The Historical and Legal Legacy of Fred Korematsu and the Japanese American Internment in a Post-9/11 World By Harvey Gee* I. INTRODUCTION In January 2017, President Obama made a final push towards his longstanding national security goal of closing the military base at Guantanamo Bay and transferring its remaining forty-one detainees to U.S. facilities.1 Obama explained that the push “reflects the lessons that we’ve learned since 9/11, lessons that need to guide our nation going forward.”2 Unable to overcome congressional opposition, Obama was unsuccessful in realizing his plan before leaving office. His successor, President Trump, favors keeping * Attorney, Washington, D.C.; LL.M., George Washington University Law School; J.D., St. Mary’s University School of Law; B.A., Sonoma State University. Mr. Gee previously served as an attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Las Vegas, NV and Pittsburgh, PA, the Federal Defenders of the Middle District of Georgia, and the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. The author would like to thank Elma Delic, Madelyn McCormick, and the Suffolk University Law Review editors for their comments and assistance in preparing this Article. 1. See Ryan Browne, Obama’s Last Transfer of Gitmo Detainees, Trump Inherits 41, CNN (Jan. 19, 2017), www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/obama-final-guantanamo-bay-transfer [https://perma.cc/2P2H2N EM] (considering Obama’s goal of closing Guantanamo unrealistic); see also Missy Ryan & Adam Goldman, Obama Asks Lawmakers to Lift Obstacles to Closing Prison at Guantanamo Bay, WASH. POST (Feb. 23, 2016), https://www.washingtonpost.com (to access follow perma.cc link) [https://perma.cc/62BX-9W25] (reporting on Obama’s February 2016 plan, noting congressional opposition); The Latest Bad Idea for Guantánamo, N.Y. TIMES (Sept. 19, 2016) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/opinion/the-latest-bad-idea-for-guantanamo.html [https://perma.cc/z855-xm6t] (reporting twenty Guantanamo prisoners cleared for transfer contingent upon government finding suitable destinations for them). But see J. Wells Dixon, President Obama’s Failure to Transfer Detainees from Guantánamo, in OBAMA’S GUANTÁNAMO: STORIES FROM AN ENDURING PRISON 39, 58 (Jonathan Hafetz ed., 2016) (asserting President “failed to do everything that he reasonably could have done to transfer detainees”). 2. Ryan & Goldman, supra note 1. 238 SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. L:237 Guantanamo prison open.3 At the same time, the significant decrease in press coverage of Guantanamo Bay caused the plight of detainees held without adequate and meaningful due process to devolve into a mere afterthought. When the issue is discussed, American fears and continuing concerns about global terrorism make any arguments for closing Guantanamo unpopular. This Article draws parallels between the internment of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans and the post-September 11, 2001 (9/11) “war on terror” to pose another lesson to remember: the relevance of the internment experience to the war on terrorism. As history revealed, the curfew and exclusion orders enforced against the Japanese were based on racial prejudice, unsupported by evidence of any real Japanese threat. These orders were egregious examples of how laws can be used as an instrument of racism, and how racist laws can be defended by claims that such laws are not based on race.4 It is well known that the U.S. Supreme Court’s internment case rulings—which gave great and undue deference to the government’s claims of military necessity—wrongly and shamelessly upheld the detention of Japanese Americans.5 Part II of this Article tells Fred Korematsu’s story and the sad history of the Japanese American internment. Part III focuses on the four internment cases heard by the Court: Yasui v. United States,6 Hirabayashi v. United States,7 Korematsu v. United States,8 and Ex Parte Endo.9 During World War II, the 3. See Matt Apuzzo & Mark Landler, With National Security Choices, Trump Builds Team to Bulldoze Status Quo, N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 18, 2016), https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/politics/flynn-sessions- trump-administration.html [https://perma.cc/3F7U-ZUWU] (highlighting Trump appointments who support Guantanamo); Nahal Toosi, Bush Aides Could Get a Do-Over in Trump Administration, POLITICO (Nov. 15, 2016), http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/george-w-bush-aides-trump-administration-231351 [h ttps://perma.cc/JKQ4-KMJU] (discussing Trump’s favorable views on Guantanamo use); see also Dixon, supra note 1, at 43 (relaying congressional opposition restricted Obama’s efforts to move Guantanamo prisoners). Dixon contends that despite Obama’s promises to close Guantanamo on the 2008 campaign trail, “[Obama] began to lose the initiative on Guantánamo issues by mid-2009, due to a series of errant political calculations and a lack of willingness to do what was necessary to close the prison, which the president nonetheless continued to claim was in the national security . of the United States.” Dixon, supra note 1, at 48. 4. See Eugene V. Rostow, The Japanese American Cases—A Disaster, 3 YALE L.J. 489, 496 (1945) (arguing racial prejudice—not military justification—underlaid evacuation); Judge Mary M. Schroeder, What Gordon Hirabayashi Taught Me About Courage, 11 SEATTLE J. FOR SOC. JUST. 65, 69 (2012) (noting racial prejudice led to Hirabayashi’s conviction). Judge Mary Schroeder presided over Gordon Hirabayashi’s successful coram nobis appeal in 1987. Schroeder, supra, at 65. 5. See ERIC K. YAMAMOTO ET AL., RACE, RIGHTS AND REPARATION: LAW AND THE JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT xxiii-xxvi (2001) (outlining list of issues). Professor Eric Yamamoto characterizes the “internment of over 100,000 loyal Americans” as a “human tragedy,” while the “legal tragedy” was the Court’s unquestioning acceptance of the government’s warped claim of military justification. Eric K. Yamamoto, Korematsu Revisited—Correcting the Injustice of Extraordinary Government Excess and Lax Judicial Review: Time for a Better Accommodation of National Security Concerns and Civil Liberties, 26 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 1, 30 (1986) [hereinafter Yamamoto, Korematsu Revisited] (arguing for more credibility). 6. 320 U.S. 115 (1943). 7. 320 U.S. 81 (1943). 8. 323 U.S. 214 (1944). 2017] JOURNEY TOWARDS JUSTICE 239 Court failed to be an independent, apolitical branch of the government, or serve as a careful and determined check against the excesses of the executive branch.10 Specifically, the wartime Court failed to apply an honest and meaningful judicial review of the internment machinery, and closed its eyes to the reality of the government interning Americans because of their race. Though we cannot know with certainty, it is plausible to theorize that the Justices were swayed by the combined factors of public opinion, personal loyalty to President Roosevelt, and judicial philosophy. Criticism is not limited to the judiciary. The government attorneys, lacking any political will to stand up against President Roosevelt and Congress, were also complicit. Government attorneys and their superiors lied and misled the Court, insisting that internment was necessary despite internal investigations finding no evidence of espionage or sabotage by Japanese Americans.11 Part IV describes how some forty years after the end of World War II, Fred Korematsu and two other Japanese Americans—Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui—separately refused to give up their longstanding quest seeking redemption for themselves and all interned Japanese. These men successfully vacated their wartime convictions on the grounds of government prosecutorial misconduct and lack of military necessity in the coram nobis cases litigated in federal courts during the 1980s.12 Part V discusses the government’s use of “enemy combatant” designations after 9/11, and compares these classifications to the government’s issuance of the curfew and exclusion orders during World War II. This section illustrates how the Japanese American internment experience is relevant to the war on terrorism. Parallels include the combined machinations of: presidential interpretation of the law, expansion of executive authority, engagement in legal and policy maneuvering by government attorneys and the military, and the permeating influence of political patronage and public opinion. In two important periods in American history, the Court purported to follow the rule of law, yet the rulings in the internment cases and Guantanamo Bay cases yielded 9. 323 U.S. 283 (1944). 10. See Schroeder, supra note 4, at 74 (stating decisions “represent extreme illustrations of the U.S. Supreme Court demonstrating a lack of courage”). 11. See, e.g., Neal Kumar Katyal, The Solicitor General and Confession of Error, 81 FORDHAM L. REV. 3027, 3034 (2013) (stating General DeWitt reported Japanese Americans signaling submarines and passing intelligence despite lack of evidence); Frank Wu & Reggie Oh, The Evolution of Race in the Law: The Supreme Court Moves from Approving Internment of Japanese Americans to Disapproving Affirmative Action for African Americans, 1 MICH. J. RACE & L. 165, 169 (1996) (stating Department of Justice “knowingly misrepresented the risk of disloyalty” by Japanese Americans); Mark V. Tushnet, Defending Korematsu?: Reflections on Civil Liberties in Wartime, 2003 WIS. L. REV. 273, 288-89 (2003) (criticizing military report on alleged Japanese American activities). Tushnet asserts that General Dewitt’s report was unsupported by evidence and instead was based on racist assumptions. See Tushnet, supra, at 288 (arguing executive and military knew no necessity existed justifying mass incarceration). 12. See YAMAMOTO ET AL., supra note 5, at 284-86 (discussing Yasui and Hirabayashi cases). 240 SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. L:237 different results. The courts deprived Japanese Americans of their constitutional rights, including the right to due process, in the name of military necessity. Yet sixty years later, the courts granted Guantanamo Bay detainees their constitutional rights and access to the judicial system.
Recommended publications
  • Japanese American Internment: a Tragedy of War Amber Martinez Kennesaw State University
    Kennesaw State University DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects 4-21-2014 Japanese American Internment: A Tragedy of War Amber Martinez Kennesaw State University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Martinez, Amber, "Japanese American Internment: A Tragedy of War" (2014). Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects. Paper 604. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT: A TRAGEDY OF WAR A Reflexive Essay Presented To The Academic Faculty Amber Martinez In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in American Studies Kennesaw State University (May, 2014) 1 Japanese American internment in the United States during World War II affected thousands of lives for generations yet it remains hidden in historical memory. There have been surges of public interest since the release of the internees, such as during the Civil Rights movement and the campaign for redress, which led to renewed interest in scholarship investigating the internment. Once redress was achieved in 1988, public interest waned again as did published analysis of the internment. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, American pride and displays of homeland loyalty created a unique event in American history.
    [Show full text]
  • Japanese-American Legacies in the White River Valley
    Japanese-American Legacies in the White River Valley Historic Context Statement and Inventory Mildred Tanner Andrews December 19, 1997 Prepared for the King County Landmarks and Heritage Program 506 Second Avenue, Rm.1115 Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 296-7580 TABLE of CONTENTS Scope of Work ...........................................................................................................1 Methodology ..............................................................................................................2 Early History and Development of the White River Valley ......................................2 Patterns of Japanese Immigration and Settlement .....................................................4 The Gentleman's Agreement ......................................................................................6 Community Organizations .........................................................................................7 Dairies..... ...................................................................................................................9 Alien Land Laws ........................................................................................................10 For the Sake of the Children ......................................................................................12 Cultural Retention and Assimilation ..........................................................................13 Vegetable and Berry Farming ....................................................................................15 Reclassification
    [Show full text]
  • Resources Available from Twin Cities JACL
    CLASSROOM RESOURCES ON WORLD WAR II HISTORY AND THE JAPANESE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Available from the Twin Cities chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) (Updated September 2013) *Denotes new to our collection Contact: Sally Sudo, Twin Cities JACL, at [email protected] or (952) 835-7374 (days and evenings) SPEAKERS BUREAU Topics: Internment camps and Japanese American WWII soldiers Volunteer speakers are available to share with students their first-hand experiences in the internment camps and/or as Japanese American soldiers serving in the U.S. Army in the European or Pacific Theaters during World War II. (Note: limited to schools within the Twin Cities metropolitan area.) LIST OF RESOURCES Materials are available on loan for no charge Videocassette Tapes Beyond Barbed Wire - 88 min 1997, Mac and Ava Picture Productions, Monterey, CA Documentary. Personal accounts of the struggles that Japanese Americans faced when they volunteered or were drafted to fight in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II while their families were interned in American concentration camps. The Bracelet - 25 min 2001, UCLA Asian American Studies Center and the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA Book on video. Presentation of the children’s book by Yoshiko Uchida about two friends separated by war. Second grader Emi is forced to move into an American concentration camp, and in the process she loses a treasured farewell gift from her best friend. Book illustrations are interwoven with rare home movie footage and historic photographs. Following the reading, a veteran teacher conducts a discussion and activities with a second grade class.
    [Show full text]
  • What Gordon Hirabayashi Taught Me About Courage
    Seattle Journal for Social Justice Volume 11 Issue 1 Article 6 7-1-2012 What Gordon Hirabayashi Taught Me About Courage Judge Mary M. Schroeder Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj Recommended Citation Schroeder, Judge Mary M. (2012) "What Gordon Hirabayashi Taught Me About Courage," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 11 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol11/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Publications and Programs at Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Seattle Journal for Social Justice by an authorized editor of Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 65 What Gordon Hirabayashi Taught Me About Courage1 Judge Mary M. Schroeder2 I first saw Gordon Hirabayashi on March 2, 1987, when I walked into the courtroom of our Seattle Courthouse for the oral argument of his case seeking a writ of coram nobis to overturn his wartime convictions forty-four years before. I had barely heard of coram nobis, and now the opinion in his case is our leading authority on it.3 Gordon sat in the courtroom ramrod straight, and the light from the courtroom window seemed to put him in a sort of a halo. I knew it was going to be an historic day. There were all the portents. The presiding judge of our court, Ted Goodwin of Oregon, was not only a veteran federal judge, he was a veteran of World War II.4 But for the atomic bomb, in all likelihood he would have died in an invasion of Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019 Ag Request Legislation Fred Korematsu & Gordon Hirabayashi
    2019 AG REQUEST LEGISLATION FRED KOREMATSU & GORDON HIRABAYASHI DAY WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE? Key Support: During WWII, Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants were TBD incarcerated under federal exclusion and incarceration orders. Fred Prime Sponsors: Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi refused to comply with orders Sen. Hasegawa: D they believed were unconstitutional. Both were arrested—Hirabayashi Rep. Santos: D in Washington, Korematsu in California. Their legal challenges were unsuccessful, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the incarceration Office Contacts: orders. In the 1980s, Korematsu’s and Hirabayashi’s convictions were Yasmin Trudeau overturned by federal courts. Korematsu and Hirabayashi should be Legislative Affairs Director celebrated for their courage to stand up to injustice. [email protected] Brittany Gregory WHY IS THIS CHANGE NECESSARY? Deputy Legislative Director A day of recognition would honor their legacies and the thousands of [email protected] incarcerated Issei, Nisei, and Sansei, civil rights defenders, and WWII 1: Andy Hobbs, “75 years ago, Japanese internment sparked veterans from Washington. It would honor Hirabayashi, a born-and- economic and cultural fears in raised Washingtonian and alumnus of the University of Washington. Puget Sound,” The News Tribune, This day of recognition will augment the state’s existing “Civil Liberties February 19, 2017. Day of Remembrance,” which is observed every February 19 and also commemorates the struggles against incarceration. K E Y As many as 14,000 Washingtonians of Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese ancestry were imprisoned during the S T 60 Second World War; 60% were American citizens. A PERCENT T AROUND THE U.S.: Since 2010, a number of other states including California, Hawai’i, Virginia, Utah, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida, as well as numerous municipalities, have commemorated January 30 as “Fred Korematsu Day” in celebration of civil liberties and the Constitution, but no state has yet named a day for Gordon Hirabayashi.
    [Show full text]
  • A a C P , I N C
    A A C P , I N C . Asian Am erican Curriculum Project Dear Friends; AACP remains concerned about the atmosphere of fear that is being created by national and international events. Our mission of reminding others of the past is as important today as it was 37 years ago when we initiated our project. Your words of encouragement sustain our efforts. Over the past year, we have experienced an exciting growth. We are proud of publishing our new book, In Good Conscience: Supporting Japanese Americans During the Internment, by the Northern California MIS Kansha Project and Shizue Seigel. AACP continues to be active in publishing. We have published thirteen books with three additional books now in development. Our website continues to grow by leaps and bounds thanks to the hard work of Leonard Chan and his diligent staff. We introduce at least five books every month and offer them at a special limited time introductory price to our newsletter subscribers. Find us at AsianAmericanBooks.com. AACP, Inc. continues to attend over 30 events annually, assisting non-profit organizations in their fund raising and providing Asian American book services to many educational organizations. Your contributions help us to provide these services. AACP, Inc. continues to be operated by a dedicated staff of volunteers. We invite you to request our catalogs for distribution to your associates, organizations and educational conferences. All you need do is call us at (650) 375-8286, email [email protected] or write to P.O. Box 1587, San Mateo, CA 94401. There is no cost as long as you allow enough time for normal shipping (four to six weeks).
    [Show full text]
  • Ms. Venkataramanan's Essay
    The Spirit of Our Constitution By Meena Venkataramanan The Gordon Hirabayashi Campground lies just an hour north of my home in Tucson, Arizona. A coveted spot among several local campers, very few are aware of the complex history behind its name. However, to those who recognize its significance, the campground represents the enduring legacy of the tragic mass internment of Japanese-Americans that occurred during the Second World War in the interest of wartime national security – and against the spirit of the U.S. Constitution. Decades later, the United States is faced with a similar situation. As the global threat of terrorism augments, especially with respect to the Islamic State and similar organizations in the Middle East, the federal government has been faced with an increasing pressure to implement measures to curb these perils. One such measure, issued just a week after President Donald Trump took office, was a travel ban by which citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations were barred from traveling to the United States for ninety days. Although there is no explicit legal statute prohibiting discrimination based on religion with respect to travel, the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in such situations, while the Equal Protection Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution both insinuate that individuals have the right to religious liberty (Hamilton). But perhaps the most decisive precedent in blocking the ban in its entirety was the decision in the 1993 case Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, which affirmed that legal actions that single out a religious group, even indirectly, are unconstitutional.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded At
    CROSSCURRENTS 2004-2005 Vol. 28, No. 1 (2004-2005) CrossCurrents Newsmagazine of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Center Honors Community Leaders and Celebrates New Department at 36th Anniversary Dinner MARCH 5, 2005—At its 36th anniversary dinner, held in Covel Commons at UCLA, the Center honored commu- nity leaders and activists for their pursuit of peace and justice. Over 400 Center supporters attended the event, which was emceed by MIKE ENG, mayor of Monterey Park and UCLA School of Law alumnus. PATRICK AND LILY OKURA of Bethesda, Maryland, who both recently passed away, sponsored the event. The Okuras established the Patrick and Lily Okura En- dowment for Asian American Mental Health Research at UCLA and were long involved with the Center and other organizations, including the Japanese American Citizens League and the Asian American Psychologists Association. Honorees included: SOUTH ASIAN NETWORK, a community-based nonprofit or- ganization dedicated to promoting health and empow- erment of South Asians in Southern California. PRosY ABARQUEZ-DELACRUZ, a community activist and vol- unteer, and ENRIQUE DELA CRUZ, a professor of Asian American Studies at California State University, Northridge, The late Patrick and Lily Okura. and UCLA alumnus. SUELLEN CHENG, curator at El Pueblo de Los Angeles standing Book Award. Historical Monument, executive director of the Chinese UCLA Law Professor JERRY KANG, a member of the Center’s American Museum, and UCLA alumna, and MUNSON A. Faculty Advisory Committee, delivered a stirring keynote WOK K , an active volunteer leader in Southern California address. TRITIA TOYOTA, former broadcast journalist and for more than thirty years.
    [Show full text]
  • 2:45 PM Session 208 | Fred Korematsu and His Fight for Justice
    Friday, Nov. 8, 2019 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM Session 208 | Fred Korematsu and His Fight for Justice: A Panel Discussion Over seventy-five years ago, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, uprooting some 120,000 Japanese-Americans -- two-thirds of them American citizens -- from their homes on the West Coast and forcing them into concentration camps. Although the rest of his family reported as ordered, Fred Korematsu refused to go. He was arrested, and convicted of violating the Executive Order and related military proclamations. He appealed his conviction first to the Ninth Circuit and then to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court affirmed his conviction as well as the convictions of Minoru Yasui and Gordon Hirabayashi, upholding the Executive Order. In 1983, some forty years later, the federal court in San Francisco vacated Korematsu's conviction after evidence was uncovered showing that the government had suppressed evidence that undermined its assertions in the cases before the Supreme Court that the relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II without individualized consideration of loyalty was a matter of military necessity. Fred Korematsu spent the rest of his life teaching the lessons of his case. As he put it, "No one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist." The reenactment performed during Friday’s plenary session tells the story of Fred Korematsu and his fight for justice through narration, reenactment of court proceedings, and historic documents and photographs. Included in the cast are several individuals who play themselves, as well as others who lived through the proceedings as coram nobis team members.
    [Show full text]
  • Law and Contemporary Problems
    02_MULLER_FOREWORD.DOC 11/22/2005 11:30 AM LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS Volume 68 Spring 2005 Number 2 FOREWORD ERIC L. MULLER* The year 2004 saw the anniversaries of one of the Supreme Court’s most celebrated race decisions and one of its most notorious. The better-known an- niversary was the fiftieth of Brown v. Board of Education,1 on May 17. Its memory was appropriately feted at countless conferences and public events across the country. The lesser-known anniversary was that of Korematsu v. United States,2 which turned sixty on December 18, 2004. A single conference, jointly convened in Los Angeles by the University of North Carolina School of Law, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and the Japanese American National Museum, commemorated the event.3 The conference, entitled “Judgments Judged and Wrongs Remembered: Examining the Japanese American Civil Liberties Cases of World War II on their Sixtieth Anniversary,” took what might be termed a multi-modal approach to remembering Korematsu, Ex parte Endo,4 Hirabayashi v. United States,5 Ya- sui v. United States,6 and other cases from World War II in which Japanese Americans used the courts to contest their eviction and confinement.7 Surviving Copyright © 2005 by Eric L. Muller This Foreword is also available at http://law.duke.edu/journals/lcp. * George R. Ward Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Professor Sara Sun Beale of Duke Law School, whose early and energetic assistance helped bring this symposium issue to life.
    [Show full text]
  • THE RICE PAPER a Newsletter of the Twin Cities Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League E-Mail [email protected] Website: | August 2020
    THE RICE PAPER A newsletter of the Twin Cities Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League e-mail [email protected] website: www.tcjacl.org | August 2020 Newsletter Staff: President’s Remarks Sylvia Farrells Greetings! [email protected] Tim Dagoberg I hope you are safe and well. The Twin Cities JACL Board members have been [email protected] meeting remotely via Zoom since March 2020. This year has been very different from previous years and we are learning to adapt to new processes. Chris Noonan [email protected] But first of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Vini Taguchi, who over the past TC JACL Board of weekend, received a JACL National Scholarship! He received the Kenji Directors: Kajiwara scholarship from the staff of the Pacific Citizen newspaper. Vini was also married recently, so this summer has been a great one for him. Amy Dickerson: 612-338-8405, [email protected] Many of our planned events for the year have been cancelled until 2021. There are a few TC JACL events we have planned. Most are virtual meetings on Zoom. Matthew Farrells: 612-272-8772, [email protected] Below is an internet guide for first time Zoom users and some do’s and don’t tips. Gloria Kumagai: 763-377-5602, [email protected] Joining a meeting using an invite link Karen Tanaka Lucas: 952-270-3278, 2020 [email protected] Step 1: Open your browser and log into your email account. Phil Nomura: 612-724-9360, Step 2: Find and open the email from your meeting host that contains the invite link.
    [Show full text]
  • Vol.102 #06 Feb 14 1986.Pdf
    •• •• aCl lC Cl lzen National Publication of the Japanese American Citizens league Newsstand: 25¢ l60e postpaid) ISSN: 0030-8579 Whole No. 2,376 Vol. 102 No.6 941 East 3rd St. #200, los An eles, CA 90013 213) 626-6936 Frida, Februar 14,1986 Hirabayashi verdict reached Colorado rep backs H.R. 442 SEA'ITLE----Charging the gov­ at the racial implications of De­ WASHINGTON-Reps. Norman member 'of the 35-member Judi­ ernment with misconduct and Witt's statements, argued Kawa­ Mineta and Robert Matsui (both ciary Committee to co-sponsor concealing evidence, U.S. Dis­ kami, and this ''true expression" D-Calif) announced Feb. 6 that the bill and that one more would trict Court Judge Donald Voor­ of the racial basis for DeWitt's Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) constitute a majority. Committee hees reversed the conviction of curfew and exclusion orders has signed on as the 121st co­ chair Peter Rodino (D-N.J.) has Gordon Hirabayashi for viola­ should have been disclosed. sponsor of redress bill HR 442. been a co-sponsor since the bill tion ofWW2 exclusion orders but Instead, Kawakami argued, "a In a joint statement, Mineta was introduced in January 1985. let stand his conviction for viola­ trail of documents" shows McCloy and Matsui said they were "de­ LEC legislative vice-chair tion of military curfew. and Army Colonel Karl Bendet­ lighted" with Schroeder'S co­ Grant Ujifusa and executive di­ The 35-page brief issued Feb. sen, DeWitt's aide, collaborated sponsorship. ''We are gratified rector Grayce Uyehara have 10, stated that "even though the to remove from DeWitt's report that there is a steady building of been working to assure a major­ curfew order was burdensome, the tinge of racial bias; the gov­ solid support for this bill, which ity vote on the subcommittee as the burden was nevertheless re­ ernment's new premise, accord­ demonstrates a basic understand­ well.
    [Show full text]