R.I.P., Fred Korematsu
April 1, 2005 8:09 PM   Subscribe

R.I.P. Fred Korematsu Fred Korematsu, who unsuccessfully fought Japanese American internment camps during World War II before finally winning in court nearly four decades later, has died. He was 86. Seattle Times...New York Times (reg. req'd)
posted by gleenyc (26 comments total)
 
stream of consciousness much, nkyad?

Remember Fred Korematsu by reading the opinion and reflecting on the extent to which we used to let the executive branch degrade individual rights in the name of war.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 8:49 PM on April 1, 2005


Actually I think I was talking to myself. Ignore me. Or me.
posted by nkyad at 8:53 PM on April 1, 2005


RIP.

I still remember from growing up in the PNW the overgrown ruins of buildings that had been abandoned when their owners were sent off to the camps decades earlier.
posted by hattifattener at 9:04 PM on April 1, 2005


Yet more obituaryfilter.
posted by caddis at 9:19 PM on April 1, 2005


.
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:33 PM on April 1, 2005


Remember Fred Korematsu by reading the opinion and reflecting on the extent to which we used to let the executive branch degrade individual rights in the name of war.

used to,” Saucy?
posted by spacewrench at 9:38 PM on April 1, 2005


Marilyn Hall Patel: "(Korematsu) stands as a caution that in times of distress the shield of military necessity and national security must not be used to protect governmental actions from close scrutiny and accountability....". Judge Patel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court, speaking from the bench, vacated Korematsu conviction in 1983.

As spacewrench said.
posted by nkyad at 9:53 PM on April 1, 2005


Michelle Malkin must be delighted.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 10:09 PM on April 1, 2005


Michelle Malkin must be delighted.

And every liberal must be delighted that the Pope is knock-knock-knocking on heaven's door.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 11:47 PM on April 1, 2005


What's your point thedevildancedlightly? The comparison seems inapposite to me. Fred Korematsu was a human symbol of the evil concept which Malkin has all but shown her tits to promote. Does the Pope symbolize something that "every liberal" opposes?
posted by ereshkigal45 at 12:26 AM on April 2, 2005


.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 12:37 AM on April 2, 2005


And to elaborate on my ".", I had the great honor of sitting near Mr. Korematsu during the Supreme Court Oral Argument for Hamdi and Padilla. I would not have known his face, but someone near me realized it was him, and as soon as I heard his name I realized just how similar these modern cases were to his.

When we filed out, I desperately wanted to work my way over to him to shake his hand, to show my respect for him, for never giving up fighting a past injustice. Unfortunately, in the crowd, I lost sight of him, and security concerns (esp with other VIPs in attendance [Sen. Kennedy comes to mind]) I realized fighting my way over would not be a smart move.

I never did shake Fred Korematsu's hand, but I would still like to, officially, thank him.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 12:42 AM on April 2, 2005


Fred Korematsu was a human symbol of the evil concept which Malkin has all but shown her tits to promote.

It's not like the Pope is against abortion, against gay marriage, and against seperation of church and state or anything...
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 1:01 AM on April 2, 2005


Incidentally, I do think Korematsu is a good guy and more people need to learn about the Japanese internment.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 1:01 AM on April 2, 2005


And I'm not saying that the Pope is evil, but I am saying that assigning a response to a 3rd party based on what you think their response will be because of the death of a political figure is a bit uncouth and ham-handed. Maybe my comparison isn't exactly dead-on (so to speak), but there's no reason to hijack a thread about a great ma(Korematsu) to piss on your neo-con target of the day.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 1:15 AM on April 2, 2005


I think America has learned an enduring lesson from Fred Korematsu.

We now know it's wrong to intern, without due process of law, innocent Japanese and Japanese-Americans when we are at war with Imperial Japan.

And I'm proud to say I don't think we'll ever intern Japanese-Americans when we're at war with Imperial Japan again!11!11!

Never again!!

Let nobody say that America can't learn from its mistakes, like interning Japs and turning back Jewish refugees from Naziism!

Maybe in another 40 years, a Fred Mohammed will come along and teach us that it's wrong to "detain", without due process of law, innocent Muslim and Muslim-Americans when we are at war against Terrorism.

But until then, let's lock those Muslims up and throw away the key, and torture interrogate them (as long as the pain they feel is not equivalent to the pain of organ failure)!

And at about they same time, we'll probably learn we should have done more for the victims of Darfur.


Yeah for America, the Greatest Nation Evar!

And to those who would use Fred Korematsu to impugn America's actions in the War on Terrorism, I say, Fred Korematsu only proves how great America really is, so,

STFU lib'ruls!
posted by orthogonality at 5:30 AM on April 2, 2005


Why did Fred Korematsu hate America?
posted by fairmettle at 5:59 AM on April 2, 2005


there's no reason to hijack a thread about a great ma(Korematsu) to piss on your neo- con target of the day.
But that didn't happen. Malkin wrote a book defending the camps, she's not just some random neocon getting ragged on.
The rules are: if you want to rag on neocons in general, you have to use Wolfie or Rummy or someone else whose name can be infantilized. Never Malkin. She's in her own category of ugly.
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:44 AM on April 2, 2005


You kiddies demonstrate one of the remarkable educational achievements of our time: That of all the atrocities committed by both sides in the Pacific War, the one that has registered most strongly on the American psyche is the Japanese internment -- in which no one was killed, no one was tortured, no one was raped, etc. If you want a WWII atrocity to oppose, let's start with the waste of American servicemen's lives by their commanding officers, in particular by Douglas McArthur. That SOB spilled the blood of hundreds of thousands of American servicemen -- draftees, ie, inculpable kids who were dragged from their homes, interned in camps, tortured in basic training, stuffed into ships, and poured onto beaches to be murdered. By comparison to this, the Japanese internment is like the comfy pillow torture from Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition bit.
posted by Faze at 7:57 AM on April 2, 2005


Not just the Japanese

As a by the way.
posted by IndigoJones at 9:05 AM on April 2, 2005


IndigoJones writes "Not just the Japanese"

That's an interesting article, and it contains some interesting facts -- but since it's on a Holocaust denial site, I'm not sure how much I'm willing to trust it.
posted by orthogonality at 9:10 AM on April 2, 2005


My bad. Didn't check their home page. I advise others to not check it as well. Won't make that mistake again. Embarrassing to say the least, and my sincerist apologies to any who thought I was endorsing the site or the mindset.

(Thank you othogonality for pointing this out and thereby giving me the opportunity.)
posted by IndigoJones at 9:33 AM on April 2, 2005


That having been said, here is a less unsavory site reiterating my original point.
Also this, this, and even this

Plenty of other sites, some with axes to grind, but the underlying fact remains, as do the questions raised. Ask not for whom the bell tolls and all that.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:14 AM on April 2, 2005


IndigoJones writes "Ask not for whom the bell tolls and all that."

As the poet wrote, "ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for..." Jew. And Gypsy. And Kulak. And Ay-rab.

Semi self link.
posted by orthogonality at 10:30 AM on April 2, 2005


Faze writes, "You kiddies demonstrate one of the remarkable educational achievements of our time: That of all the atrocities committed by both sides in the Pacific War, the one that has registered most strongly on the American psyche is the Japanese internment"

How in the hell do you deduce that from this thread? This discussion means that the Japanese internment is the thing that has "registered most strongly on the American psyche?" Sorry. Severe logic deficiency here. We are discussing an issue that, quite frankly, is rarely discussed and was all but fucking forgotten. The "War on Terror" has actually resurrected this shameful episode from the kind of historical obscurity to which we tend to relegate all of those things that embarrass us as a nation. The discussion was prompted by the death of the man who lent his name to the legal challenge. It's not as if somebody just decided, "Hey! I know! Let's discuss the Japanese internment camps, just because!"

Gah.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 11:48 PM on April 2, 2005


...who unsuccessfully fought Japanese American internment camps during World War II.

Wouldn't that have been a bit unfair and cruel? I mean, I'm guessing the internees would have been unarmed.

And how the hell did he lose??!!!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 4:31 PM on April 3, 2005


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