January 30 has been recognized as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution by a few states, including my state of New Jersey, to honor Fred Korematsu, a civil rights activist. While the name of Korematsu may not be recognized by many Americans, his name is mentioned and memorized in the U.S. Supreme Court case “Korematsu v. United States (1944)” as one of infamous and egregious court decisions. I admit that I was also one of those who had not heard of his name and not known this case until a decade years ago.

Upon FDR’s Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 in response to the Pearl Harbor attack by the Imperial Japanese military in December in a previous year of 1941, 120,000 Japanese descends, majority of whom were American citizens, were incarcerated in the remote camps during the World War II, in the name of national security threads. Korematsu rejected to follow the order to go to the incarcerated camp. Then, he sued the U.S government because he said that the government defied the protection of his freedom as a U.S citizen. He challenged the constitutionality of the government’s imprisonment of Japanese Americans. In 1944, the U.S Supreme Court rejected the suit with 6-3 decision. This was considered as one of the infamous landmark court decisions. The decision has been criticized as a failed decision case on a racial discrimination and guaranteed freedom protection for the U.S. citizens.

Korematsu has been active in civil right movements throughout his life until 2015 when he died at 86 years old. His efforts to teach the country helped lead to the law on Japanese American Regress and Reparations signed by President Regan in 1988. He received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 from President Clinton. In post-9/11 era, he spoke out against racial discrimination against any ethnic minority groups.

The country needs to hear that the U.S. has this history and someone stood up against the injustice.