Koreatsu Vs America Case Study

Korematsu vs. the United States of America
The United States of America is called the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.” Our Constitution gives us many rights and protections to ensure that our privacy is not invaded. In theory, our country is one of the best places in the world when it comes to protecting our civil liberties and rights.
However, during war time, ideals can change, and there is one question that must be asked. Should our personal freedoms be denied to ensure the safety of other citizens? On what grounds is this considered acceptable? These questions were brought to the Supreme Court in the case of Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu versus The United States of America. The case had major social undertones and implications,

Until the camps could officially open, they were held in temporary housing in racetracks or stables. When Japanese Americans were finally moved to the camps, they were expected to work, attend school, and be self-sufficient by farming. However, the schools were in poor condition, jobs only paid $5 an hour, and the hot, arid land could not support crops. The armed guards, barbed wire, and fences only helped to further terrify occupants of the internment camps.
The case began two years before it actually reached the Supreme Court of the United States. Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu, a first generation Japanese American, refused to follow this executive order. He hadn’t committed or thought about committing an act against the United States to aid the Japanese’s efforts. The young man was engaged to an Italian-American woman and had a stable job as a welder. Therefore, he felt it was not right to be uprooted from his home and life to be sent to an internment

In the 1980s, evidence was discovered that said government officials failed to report that Japanese-Americans had posed no threat to national security. Korematsu used this evidence to petition for his conviction to be overturned in 1983. He won this petition, but it did not include the Supreme Court decision because it was a national military matter.
There has been no official overturn of the decision in Korematsu vs. The United States. In 1948, the United States passed the Japanese-Americans Claims Act for interned citizens to sue for compensation. Out of the $131 million in claims that were filed, only $38 million were rewarded. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 contained an apology to those that were interned during and after the war. There was also monetary compensation to the people forced into the camps, but was this enough to atone for their lives being disrupted?
Japanese-Americans should have never been forced out of their homes and into internment camps. Prejudice and fear should never be a reason to remove a group from their communities and group them together in camps in the middle of nowhere. Monetary compensation cannot fix or make up for uprooting someone’s life based off of suspicion and prejudice. This chapter is another ugly stain on the history of the United