Fred Korematsu

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland, California, to Japanese immigrant parents. He was an American citizen, but in 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced relocation and incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans. Korematsu, believing this was wrong, refused to comply with the order to report to an internment camp.

Korematsu underwent plastic surgery and changed his name in an attempt to avoid internment, but he was eventually arrested. He challenged the legality of the internment order, and his case, Korematsu v. United States, reached the Supreme Court in 1944. In a 6-3 decision, the Court upheld the government's actions, marking a dark chapter in American legal history.

Decades later, in 1983, Korematsu's conviction was overturned after newly discovered evidence revealed that the government had deliberately suppressed intelligence reports confirming Japanese Americans posed no military threat. He continued to be a vocal advocate for civil rights and racial justice until his death in 2005, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 for his unwavering commitment to constitutional principles.

While Fred Korematsu had no known connection to Jewish identity, origin, or kvell-worthiness in a tribal sense, his valiant stand against government-sanctioned injustice and his enduring fight for civil liberties certainly resonate with a broader sense of universal justice. His legacy is one of profound moral courage, reminding us that even in times of extreme prejudice, some individuals refuse to fold.