70 Years On: The Japanese-American Curfew, Exclusion and Detention Orders and Civil Rights Today

Karen Korematsu, Co-founder, The Korematsu Institute, Civil Rights Activist
Dale Minami, Partner, Minami Tamaki LLP
Don Tamaki, Partner, Minami Tamaki LLP

In 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, and as a result, 120,000 Japanese Americans, more than half of whom were U.S.-born citizens, were uprooted from their homes, businesses and friends and held in camps. A few, including Fred Korematsu, brought legal challenges against the imprisonment, and the Supreme Court ruled against them. Decades later, their convictions were overturned based on serious governmental misconduct. Join us to hear the daughter of Fred Korematsu, who is carrying on her father's civil rights work, and the lawyers on the “pro bono” team that succeeded in overturning his conviction and others for defying the incarceration order, discuss the curfew, exclusion and detention, the legal challenges and their reflections on how the Japanese American experience informs the debate today about national security and civil liberties in the United States.

MLF: Asia-Pacific Affairs
Location:  SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizers: Lillian Nakagawa and Cynthia Miyashita