Ex-internee who won case to speak today

Advertiser Staff

Fred Korematsu, who challenged the constitutionality of the internment of 120,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans by the U.S. government during World War II, will speak at a public ceremony at 7 p.m. today in Classroom 2 of the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

The ceremony, a tribute to the late U.S. Rep. Patsy T. Mink, will include presentation of the second annual legislative fellowship in her name. The law student who receives it will be awarded $4,500 and will work in U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye's office in Washington this summer.

Korematsu holds a place in American history for challenging the internment, his conviction, and the overturning of that conviction 40 years later that led to reparations of $20,000 apiece for internees.

About 1,500 people from Hawai'i were interned, mostly leaders and teachers in the Japanese community and their families. Most internees were from the West Coast, rounded up and moved to hastily built camps in desolate areas. A number of books, including "Return to Manzanar," have chronicled the pain, despair and difficulties of that time.

Korematsu will discuss his experiences in camp and his struggles for civil liberties. His talk is titled "Sixty Years After Korematsu: Where Are We?"