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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 126 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 126

Honoring Fred T. Korematsu for his loyalty and patriotism to the United 
     States and expressing condolences to his family, friends, and 
                        supporters on his death.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 27, 2005

  Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Inouye, and Mr. Stevens) submitted the 
        following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Honoring Fred T. Korematsu for his loyalty and patriotism to the United 
     States and expressing condolences to his family, friends, and 
                        supporters on his death.

Whereas on January 30, 1919, Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was born in Oakland, 
        California, to Japanese immigrants;
Whereas Fred Korematsu graduated from Oakland High School and tried on 2 
        occasions to enlist in the United States Army but was not accepted due 
        to a physical disability;
Whereas on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States military base at 
        Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, forcing the United States to enter World War II 
        against Japan, Germany, and Italy;
Whereas on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive 
        Order number 9066 (42 Federal Register 1563) as ``protection against 
        espionage and against sabotage to national defense'', which authorized 
        the designation of ``military areas . . . from which any or all persons 
        may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to 
        enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restriction the 
        . . . Military Commander may impose in his discretion'';
Whereas the United States Army issued Civilian Exclusion Order Number 34, 
        directing that after May 9, 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry were 
        to be removed from designated areas of the West Coast because they were 
        considered to be a security threat;
Whereas in response to that Civilian Exclusion Order, Fred Korematsu's family 
        reported to Tanforan, a former racetrack in the San Francisco area that 
        was used as 1 of 15 temporary detention centers, before being sent to an 
        internment camp in Topaz, Utah;
Whereas more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were similarly detained in 10 
        permanent War Relocation Authority camps located in isolated desert 
        areas of the States of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, 
        Utah, and Wyoming, without any charges brought or due process accorded;
Whereas Fred Korematsu, then 22 years old and working as a shipyard welder in 
        Oakland, California, refused to join his family in reporting to 
        Tanforan, based on his belief that he was a loyal American and not a 
        security threat;
Whereas on May 30, 1942, Fred Korematsu was arrested and jailed for remaining in 
        a military area, tried in United States district court, found guilty of 
        violating Civilian Exclusion Order Number 34, and sentenced to 5 years 
        of probation;
Whereas Fred Korematsu unsuccessfully challenged that Civilian Exclusion Order 
        as it applied to him, and appealed the decision of the district court to 
        the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, where his 
        conviction was sustained;
Whereas Fred Korematsu was subsequently confined with his family in the 
        internment camp in Topaz for 2 years, and during that time, he appealed 
        his conviction to the United States Supreme Court;
Whereas on December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Korematsu 
        v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, which upheld Fred Korematsu's conviction 
        by a vote of 6-to-3, based on the finding of the Supreme Court that Fred 
        Korematsu was not removed from his home ``because of hostility to him or 
        his race'' but because the United States was at war with Japan and the 
        United States military ``feared an invasion of our West Coast'';
Whereas Fred Korematsu continued to maintain his innocence for decades following 
        World War II;
Whereas, under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 
        ``Freedom of Information Act''), an historian discovered numerous 
        government documents indicating that, at the time Korematsu v. United 
        States, 323 U.S. 214, was decided, the Federal Government suppressed 
        findings that Japanese Americans on the West Coast were not security 
        threats;
Whereas in light of this newly discovered information, Fred Korematsu filed a 
        writ of error coram nobis with the United States District Court for the 
        Northern District of California;
Whereas on November 10, 1983, United States District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel 
        overturned Fred Korematsu's conviction, concluding that senior 
        government officials knew there was no factual basis for the claim of 
        ``military necessity'' when they presented their case before the Supreme 
        Court in 1944;
Whereas in that decision, Judge Patel stated that, while Korematsu v. United 
        States ``remains on the pages of our legal and political history...[as] 
        historical precedent it stands as a constant caution that in times of 
        war or declared military necessity our institutions must be vigilant in 
        protecting constitutional guarantees'';
Whereas the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, 
        authorized by Congress in 1980 to review the facts and circumstances 
        surrounding the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans under 
        Executive Order Number 9066 (42 Federal Register 1563), concluded that 
        ``today the decision in Korematsu lies overruled in the court of 
        history'';
Whereas the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians 
        concluded that a ``grave personal injustice was done to the American 
        citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without 
        individual review or any probative evidence against them were excluded, 
        removed and detained by the United States during World War II'', and 
        that those acts were ``motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime 
        hysteria, and a failure of political leadership'';
Whereas the overturning of Fred Korematsu's conviction and the findings of 
        Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians influenced 
        the decision by Congress to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 
        U.S.C. App. 1989b et seq.) to request a Presidential apology and 
        symbolic payment of compensation to persons of Japanese ancestry who 
        lost liberty or property because of discriminatory action by the Federal 
        Government;
Whereas on August 10, 1988, President Reagan signed that Act into law, stating, 
        ``[H]ere we admit a wrong; here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation 
        to equal justice under the law'';
Whereas on January 15, 1998, President Clinton awarded the Medal of Freedom, the 
        highest civilian award of the United States, to Fred Korematsu, stating, 
        ``In the long history of our country's constant search for justice, some 
        names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls: Plessy, Brown, 
        Parks. To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred 
        Korematsu.'';
Whereas Fred Korematsu remained a tireless advocate for civil liberties and 
        justice throughout his life, particularly speaking out against racial 
        discrimination and violence targeting Arab, Muslim, South Asian, and 
        Sikh Americans in the wake of the September 11, 2001, tragedy, and 
        cautioning the Federal Government against repeating mistakes of the past 
        by singling out individuals for heightened scrutiny on the basis of 
        race, ethnicity, or religion;
Whereas on March 30, 2005, Fred Korematsu died at the age of 86 in Larkspur, 
        California; and
Whereas Fred Korematsu was a role model for all Americans who love the United 
        States and the promises contained in the Constitution, and his strength 
        and perseverance serve as an inspiration for all people striving for 
        equality and justice: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) honors Fred T. Korematsu for his loyalty and patriotism 
        to the United States, his work to advocate for the civil rights 
        and civil liberties of all Americans, and his dedication to 
        justice and equality; and
            (2) expresses its deepest condolences to his family, 
        friends, and supporters on his death.
                                 <all>
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