Fred Korematsu Day Celebration

Date 

Add to My Calendar Tuesday, January 30, 2018 7:00pm to 8:30pm

Location 

Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center at NYU
36 E 8th Street
New York, NY 10003

CCR is proud to co-sponsor the inaugural celebration of Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution in New York City. The program will honor Fred Korematsu as a civil liberties role model, recognize the efforts of allies who worked on the campaign to make this important day a reality, and bring attention to Korematsu's legacy and its relevance to issues today. You can find out more on the Facebook event page. Join us as we hear from politicians, scholars, and activists to discuss this important milestone.

Fred T. Korematsu was a national civil rights hero. In 1942, at the age of 23, he refused to go to the government’s incarceration camps for Japanese Americans. After he was arrested and convicted of defying the government’s order, he appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled against him, arguing that the incarceration was justified due to military necessity. On November 10, 1983, Korematsu’s conviction was overturned in a federal court in San Francisco. Korematsu remained an activist throughout his life. In 1998, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Bill Clinton.

Attending the program and speaking will be Karen Korematsu, head of the Korematstu Institute and daughter of Fred; New York City Councilmember Danny Dromm, who sponsored the legislation; and the ASAP Youth of Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. Civil rights lawyer Rocky Chin will moderate a panel on civil liberties with Dr. Debbie Almontaser, Julie Azuma, Albert Cahn (CAIR), and others.

Last modified 

January 18, 2018