![]() ![]() entered World War to Japan, officially became an enemy nation. The Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. It also needs to be said that anti Asian sentiment was already rampant in the United States. Nick Capodice: And everything you described at the beginning of this episode, the signs on businesses, the magazine articles, the hunting licenses, the curfew did all of that happened to Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans in the U.S.? Hannah McCarthy: This order was issued at the height of anti Japanese sentiment in the United States following the attack on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941 by the Imperial Japanese Navy, Air Service Karen Korematsu: The executive order gave the military the authority to forcibly remove anyone of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. Nick Capodice: And what is Executive Order 9066? She founded and serves as director of the Fred Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education. Hannah McCarthy: This is Karen Korematsu, daughter of the late Fred Korematsu, the plaintiff in Korematsu v. But he was paying attention to the Constitution that day in class and he thought he had rights as an American citizen. He was born in Oakland, California, attended Castlemont High School, was just like any other American kid and hung out with his friends. Karen Korematsu: My father learned about the Constitution in high school. We're talking about the 1944 case, Korematsu versus the United States. Hannah McCarthy: And today we're exploring a case that upheld the removal and relocation of 120000 people of Japanese heritage, the majority of them American citizens, to isolated camps for nearly four years during World War Two. ![]() Does that seem constitutional to you? This is Civics 101, I'm Hannah McCarthy. You, an American citizen who has never been to that foreign nation are forced out of your home and incarcerated in a camp without due process of law. The military picks You mere months after a foreign nation attacked American soil. And finally, an order comes down, the president will allow the military to remove and relocate whoever it wants. Anyone descended from the country that attacked the United States has to stay indoors between 8:00 p.m. And then the government, your government, issues a curfew. Businesses hang signs telling you and your family to go back to where you came from. Magazines print articles explaining what physical features distinguish you from other Americans. Bars and clubs print hunting licenses, declaring open season on anyone of your heritage. The nation that staged this attack, your parents immigrated from there, and that's why your home is about to turn on. This attack means that the country is joining a war, which is reason enough for You an American citizen to be concerned. And then one Sunday afternoon, you're lying around your living room with some friends and you hear something on the news. You went to school here, played with the kids on your block, got a B in algebra, hated taking out the trash, had a crush on the kid who taught you how to surf, worked an after school job at the supermarket in town. You were born here in California, to be exact. You're an American citizen and always have been. I'd like you to imagine that you're an American citizen. Hannah McCarthy: Let's try a thought experiment. in explicit terms upheld the Constitutionality of the removal and relocation of people of Japanese heritage.Īdia Samba-Quee: Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Though many agree this to be the de facto result of the case, Korematsu v U.S. as being the case that upheld Japanese internment. This prior version also incorrectly identified Korematsu v U.S. ![]() ![]() Please note: An earlier version of this episode indicated that internment of people of Japanese heritage began a year after Pearl Harbor when in fact the earliest wave of removal and relocation took place just a few months after the attack. Our guides for this story are Karen Korematsu, Lorraine Bannai and Judge Wallace Tashima. This is the story of his appeal to the Supreme Court and what happens when the judicial branch defers to the military. They were sent to internment camps in desolate regions of the American West. In 1942, approximately 120,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans were ordered to leave their homes. Is it Constitutional for the government to remove and relocate American citizens to remote camps without due process of law? In 1944, SCOTUS said yes. ![]()
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