Category Archives: Today in history

Fred Korematsu v United States

Fred Korematsu v United States

Fred Korematsu

January 30, 1919 – March 30, 2005

Fred Korematsu in the 1940s

Executive Order No. 2537

 

On December 7, 1942, the Japanese attacked the American naval base Pearl Harbor. The US declared war on Japan the next day.

On December 11, 1942, Germany declared war on the United States.

Thus in a matter of three days we were at war in two theaters against Japan, Germany, and Italy.

On January 14, 1942,  President Roosevelt issued proclamation No. 2537, requiring Italian, German, and Japanese aliens to register with the Department of Justice. (NYT article) and

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued  Order 9066, which cleared the way for the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.

Three categories

The government created three categories of Japanese internees: Nisei (native U.S. citizens of Japanese immigrant parents), Issei (Japanese immigrants), and Kibei (native U.S. citizens educated largely in Japan).

By June, the government had relocated more than 110,000 Japanese Americans to camps scattered around the country. During the war the government convicted 10 Americans of spying for Japan, None were of Japanese ancestry.

Fred Korematsu v United States

Korematsu Arrested

Japanese American Fred Korematsu, 23, refused to go to the the incarceration camp. He was arrested and convicted of defying the government’s order. He appealed.

On December 18, 1944, the US Supreme court, in Korematsu vs United States, sided with the government ruling that the exclusion order was constitutional.

Aftermath

With today’s often bitter discussions about who is American and who we should allow in the United States, it might be interesting to look at the aftermath of Korematsu vs the United States.

32 years after Korematsu vs United States, on February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed “An American Promise,” which formally rescinded 1942’s Executive Order 9066.

In it, Ford said that during our bicentennial as it was important to have “An honest reckoning…[that included]…a recognition of our national mistakes…”

The text contained no apology.

Fred Korematsu v United States

Commission on Wartime Relocation…

36 years after Korematsu vs United States, on  July 31, 1980, President Carter signed the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Act, which created a group to study Executive Order 9066. In 1983, the Commission  concluded that the exclusion, expulsion, and incarceration of Japanese-Americans were not justified by military necessity and the decisions to do so were based on race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.

39 years afterwards, on November 10, 1983, the San Francisco Federal District Court reversed Korematsu’s 1942 conviction and ruled that the internment was not justified.  (Court Overturns… (Korematsu)

44 years afterwards, on August 10, 1988 President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. It provided for a Presidential apology and appropriated $1.25 billion for reparations of $20,000 to most internees, evacuees, and others of Japanese ancestry who lost liberty or property,

46 years after Korematsu vs United States,  October 9, 1990, the  Japanese internment redress payment was issued at a Washington, D.C. ceremony to the Reverend Mamoru Eto, 107 years old. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh knelt as he made the presentation

Presidential Medal of Freedom

On January 15, 1998, President Clinton awarded Fred Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his remarks, Clinton said, “ “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.”

Fred Korematsu v United States

55 years after Korematsu vs United States, on October 22, 1999,  groundbreaking on construction of a national memorial to both Japanese-American soldiers and those sent to internment camps takes place in Washington, D.C.Fred Korematsu v United States

On March 30, 2005, Fred Korematu died. (NYT article

Tule Lake Segregation Center

Fred Korematsu v United States
Tulle Lake Center

62 years after Korematsu vs United States, on February 17, 2006, the government designated Tule Lake Segregation Center a National Historic Landmark.

Fred Korematsu v United States

Don Miyada

Don Miyada with high school diploma

70 years afterward, on June 19, 2014, Don Miyada, 89, joined Newport (CA) Harbor High School’s 2014 graduating class on stage and received a standing ovation. He became an inaugural member of the school’s hall of fame. Miyada had missed his 1942 graduation because he was locked in an internment camp. [Independent article]

Supreme Court Again

June 22, 2018: he Supreme Court upheld the latest version of President Donald Trump’s travel ban, but as it did so, the Court also took the opportunity to expressly reject Korematsu v. United States. 

The Court wrote, in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts:

Finally, the dissent invokes Korematsu v. United States, 323 U. S. 214 (1944). Whatever rhetorical advantage the dissent may see in doing so, Korematsu has nothing to do with this case. The forcible relocation of U. S. citizens to concentration camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of race, is objectively unlawful and outside the scope of Presidential authority. [Vox report]

January 26, 2021: the city of La Mesa, California issued a proclamation to declare January 30 Fred Korematsu Day of  Civil Liberties and the Constitution. [Californian article]

Fred Korematsu v United States

Tinker v Des Moines 1969

Tinker v Des Moines 1969

1969. It was a time of empowerment. Blacks. Women. College students. The disabled. LGBTQ. Migrant laborers.  Native Americans. Immigrants.

And high school students.

Tinker v Des Moines

Tinker v Des Moines 1969

December 16, 1965

On December 11, 1965, high school student Christopher Eckhardt held a meeting with a group of students at his Des Moines, Iowa home. The group decided to wear black armbands in school on December 16 as both a Vietnam War protest and in support of Robert F Kennedy’s proposed extension of a truce the Viet Cong proposed truce on Christmas Eve. The student would keep wearing the bands until January 1, 1966.

Principals of the Des Moines schools learned of the plan and on December 14, 1965, adopted a policy that required any student wearing an armband in school to remove it. Any student who refused would be suspended until they agreed to comply.

On December 16, 1965, Chrisopher Eckhardt (16), Mary Beth Tinker (13) and her siblings, Hope (11) and Paul (8) wore black armbands. Christopher and Mary were suspended. The two younger students were not.  Mary Beth’s brother, John Tinker (15), was suspended for doing the same on the following day.

Tinker v DesMoines
Mary and John Tinker
Tinker v Des Moines 1969

Echhardt explains why

Christopher Eckhardt: I wore the black armband over a camel-colored jacket. The captain of the football team attempted to rip it off. I turned myself in to the principal’s office where the vice principal asked if ‘I wanted a busted nose.’ He said seniors wouldn’t like the armband. Tears welled up in my eyes because I was afraid of violence. He called my mom to get her to ask me to take the armband off. Then he called a school counselor in. The counselor asked if I wanted to go to college, and said that colleges didn’t accept protesters. She said I would probably need to look for a new high school if I didn’t take the armband off.

Tinker v Des Moines 1969

The beginning

The Iowa Civil Liberties Union approached the families and the ACLU agreed to help the family with a lawsuit. The Tinker and Eckhardts filed suit in U.S. District Court which upheld the board’s decision.

Tinker v Des Moines

Continues

A tie vote in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit meant that the U.S. District Court’s decision continued to stand.

Continues still…

The Tinkers and Eckhardts to appealed to the Supreme Court. The case was argued before the court on November 12, 1968.

Decided

On February 24, 1969 the US Supreme Court sided with the Tinkers in  Tinker v. Des Moines. Justice Abe Fortas delivered the opinion of the 7-2 majority. The Supreme Court held that the armbands represented pure speech that is entirely separate from the actions or conduct of those participating in it. The Court also held that the students did not lose their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech when they stepped onto school property. In order to justify the suppression of speech, the school officials must be able to prove that the conduct in question would “materially and substantially interfere” with the operation of the school. In this case, the school district’s actions evidently stemmed from a fear of possible disruption rather than any actual interference. (Tinker article) [Oyez article]

Tinker v Des Moines Independent Community School District
Mary Beth Tinker, and her brother, John Tinker, stand next to locker 319 in 2013 at Harding Elementary School in Des Moines
Tinker v Des Moines 1969

John & Yoko

Appropriately, on December 16, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono put up eleven billboards in major cities worldwide with the slogan: War Is Over!

Tinker v Des Moines 1969
John & Yoko’s billboard
Tinker v Des Moines 1969

John F. Tinker Foundation

Today, the  mission of the John F. Tinker Foundation is to promote awareness and understanding of the First Amendment rights of students and teachers, and to facilitate civil conversation about controversial social issues.

Here is a link to a 2019 Smithsonian Magazine article entitled The Young Anti-War Activists Who Fought for Free Speech at School

Tinker v Des Moines 1969

Many Motown Grapevines

Many Motown Grapevines

Marvin Gaye

December 14, 1968

There are many Motown Grapevines, but Marvin Gaye’s Grapevine is considered the best version. It hit #1 on December 14, 1968. It stayed there until January 21, 1969, ushering in the last year of that turbulent decade.

Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, two of Motown Records biggest writers, wrote “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” in 1966.

Gaye’s recorded his single in early 1967, but Motown did not release it until October 1968. In the meantime…

First Motown Grapevine

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles released a version on their 1968 album, Special Occasion.

Many Motown Grapevines

Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight & the Pips released it as a single in September 1967 and which went to number two in the Billboard chart.

Many Motown Grapevines

And back to Marvin Gaye

Many Motown Grapevines
Marvin Gaye’s Grapevine

Marvin Gaye’s Grapevine was placed on his 1968 album In the Groove and released as a single in October 1968. It was one of the  biggest hit single on the Motown label (Tamla).

#81

Rolling Stone magazine placed Marvin Gaye’s Grapevine at #81 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Marvin Gaye’s Grapevine was also inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame for “historical, artistic and significant” value.

Not at Woodstock

Creedence Clearwater Revival did not perform the song at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, but did have a hit with it on their 1970 Cosmo’s Factory album.

Many Motown Grapevines

Commercial grapevines

California raisins

Inevitably, commercialism jumped on the Motown Grapevines bandwagon and we had the California raisins…

Levi’s jeans

…or Levi’s “Launderette” commercial featuring Nick Kamen.

And it continues in various forms to match the times:

Zapp and Roger

Mashed grapevine

Or simply mashed with another song as with Queen Latifah in Paper.

Whatever the year, “I Heard It through the Grapevine” is one hell of a song. Happy Anniversary to all the Motown Grapevines.

Songfact.com has a interesting piece about the songs varied history.

Many Motown Grapevines