Significance and Impact of Korematsu v. U.S.
" The significance of Korematsu v. United States is that it stood for the principle; that without trial, without evidence, without charges of any kind, the government, on the naked assertions of the army alone, could relocate and put in prison an entire racial group. Men and women, old and young, healthy and the infirm---they did it all---without any evidence, without any due process whatsoever. So from that standpoint, it impacts every American."
Attorney Dale Minami, part of the coram nobis legal team, Of Civil Wrongs and Rights, The Fred Korematsu Story DVD |
"Not only was the evacuation wrong, but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans."
President Gerald R. Ford
President Gerald R. Ford
February 19 , 1976 Proclamation 4417
"NOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim that all authority conferred by Executive Order 9066 terminated upon the issuance of Proclamation 2714, which formally proclaimed the cessation of hostilities of World War II on December 31, 1946."
President Gerald Ford, in his Proclamation 4417, Confirming the termination of Executive Order 9066 |
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to examine "the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The panel of commissioners was ordered by Congress to compile its findings in a report and recommend “appropriate remedies” for any wrongdoings."
www.ncrr-la.org In June, 1983 CWRIC concluded that "the decisions to remove those people of Japanese ancestry to U.S. prison camps occurred because of “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. [1] |
August 10, 1988, Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was signed by President Reagan. The act offered a formal apology and offered an amount of $20,000 in restitution to each Japanese American survivor of the interment. "A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore the lost years or erase painful memories; neither can they ever convey our Nation's resolve to rectify injustice and to uphold the rights of the individuals....." Apology Letter from the President to each interned Japanese American survivor, signed by President George Bush, October 1990
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In December 2009, AB 37 was signed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This law required California's public institutions of higher education to extend honorary degrees to "confer an honorary degree upon each person, living or deceased, who was forced to leave his or her...studies as a result of federal Executive Order 9066 which caused the incarceration of individuals of Japanese ancestry during World War II." Amended Assembly Bill 37, March 10, 2009
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