Event Title
Korematsu Then and Now
Description
During World War II, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, to forcibly remove over 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast to desolate camps in the interior. In Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court, infamously, upheld the constitutionality of the government’s actions, deferring to the government’s claims about national security. Today, new government actions, such as the travel ban, are also asserted to be justified by national security, but are rooted in the same fear and prejudice that led to the wartime incarceration. The WWII incarceration can teach us much about what happens when ignorance and fear combine to harm vulnerable communities; when the courts fail to act as a check on the exercise of government power; and when we, as a people, fail to uphold the rule of law and to speak out against injustice.
About the Lecturer: Lorraine Bannai has directed academic support at Boalt Hall Law School and taught Law at University of San Francisco, New College of California, Fairhaven College, and, for 20 years, at Seattle University. She has written and spoken widely on the wartime Japanese American incarceration and its present-day relevance, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and written an amicus brief for the Supreme Court in Hedges vs. Obama. Prof. Bannai is the author Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice (Seattle: Washington, 2015).
Document Type
Event
Start Date
15-11-2017 12:00 PM
End Date
15-11-2017 1:20 PM
Location
Fairhaven College Auditorium
Resource Type
Moving image
Title of Series
World Issues Forum
Genre/Form
lectures
Contributing Repository
Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945; Immigrants--United States--Social conditions; Race descrimination; Civil rights--United States; Travel restrictions--United States
Subjects – Names (LCNAF)
Korematsu, Fred, 1919-2005
Geographic Coverage
United States--Emigration and immigration law
Type
Moving image
Keywords
Internment, Wartime incarceration
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws.
Language
English
Format
video/mp4
Korematsu Then and Now
Fairhaven College Auditorium
During World War II, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, to forcibly remove over 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast to desolate camps in the interior. In Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court, infamously, upheld the constitutionality of the government’s actions, deferring to the government’s claims about national security. Today, new government actions, such as the travel ban, are also asserted to be justified by national security, but are rooted in the same fear and prejudice that led to the wartime incarceration. The WWII incarceration can teach us much about what happens when ignorance and fear combine to harm vulnerable communities; when the courts fail to act as a check on the exercise of government power; and when we, as a people, fail to uphold the rule of law and to speak out against injustice.
About the Lecturer: Lorraine Bannai has directed academic support at Boalt Hall Law School and taught Law at University of San Francisco, New College of California, Fairhaven College, and, for 20 years, at Seattle University. She has written and spoken widely on the wartime Japanese American incarceration and its present-day relevance, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and written an amicus brief for the Supreme Court in Hedges vs. Obama. Prof. Bannai is the author Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and His Quest for Justice (Seattle: Washington, 2015).
