Fred Korematsu Testimony
My name is Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu. I am a 25-year-old Nisei. I was born to Japanese parents, on January 30, 1919 in Oakland, California. My parents are immigrants. They ran a floral nursery business in Oakland in our earlier years. I am the third son of four boys.
After I graduated high school, I worked as a shipyard welder. Due to my Japanese ancestry, I lost that job after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I was only 22 when America and Japan claimed war. I tried to enlist in the U.S. National Guard and U.S. Coast guard but the military officers turned me away. I assume it was because of my Japanese ancestry. Shortly after the bombing on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 that gave military the authority to remove over 120,000 people of Japanese descendent, most of which were American citizens. At first I thought the exclusion order would be only for aliens and for those that were born in Japan. I didn’t think that the government would go as far as to include American citizens. People of Japanese ancestry were starting to be taken from their homes and being forced to go to American prison camps throughout the United States. Police officers soon came to our home and took everything they saw as a threat such as cameras, tools, and personal items. They told us that we were only allowed to bring a certain amount of possessions and personal items. The certain amount that they allowed was very small and soon, the people who we thought of as friends, instead of helping us, they wanted to take the things they thought they could use themselves because we couldn’t take it with us.
On May 9, 1942 my parents and brothers reported to the Tanforan Assembly Center. I decided to stay behind. I would not be taken from my home, my life and my girlfriend. I do not believe that people of Japanese descent are a threat to America, we were and are loyal citizens and our entire race should not be judged based on a mistake that others made. I was and still am an American citizen, and I had a right to stay where I was. However, I knew that if I got caught, it could result in a bigger consequence in the end but I decided that my life in America and with my girlfriend was more important. I had a minor surgery to make my eyes look less slanted; I changed my name to Clyde Sarah and said I was of Spanish and Hawaiian descent.
I was arrested for my “refusal to comply with the evacuation order” on May 30, 1942 on a street corner in San Leandro, California and was taken to the San Francisco county jail. While I was in jail, Ernest Besig, the director of the San Francisco office of the American Civil Liberties Union, paid me a visit. He asked if I was willing to become the test case that would challenge the constitutionality of the government’s imprisonment of people with Japanese ancestry. I agreed almost immediately. Ernest bailed me out of jail and I was instantly sent to Tanforan. Tanforan was racetrack for horses that was converted into an imprisonment camp. My room was a horse stall; there was no floor, just dirt. There were cracks in the wall and only one light bulb that hung from the ceiling and I had a cot to sleep on. I remember thinking to myself, “gee, jail was better then this”.
We went to trial in San Francisco and I was found guilty of “violating military orders” and was put on a 5-year probation. I lived at the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California and was reunited with my family. Shortly after, my family and I were transferred from Tanforan to Topaz, Utah. The conditions in Topaz were about as bad as the conditions in Tanforan. The landscape was dry, dusty and windy. We were put into small flimsy barracks that each contained two families and slept on cots made of hay. There were cracks in the barracks and when the wind blew, dust filled our barrack from head to toe. I stayed in Topaz for about a year before I decided to appeal my case to the Supreme Court.
I believe the discriminatory conviction goes against freedoms that are guaranteed by our United States Constitution. I just want the chance to feel like an American once again and that is why I am appealing to you today.
Sources:
http://www.ilovehistory.utah.gov/time/stories/topaz.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygkboaLM3do
http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Fred_Korematsu/
http://korematsuinstitute.org/institute/aboutfred/
My name is Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu. I am a 25-year-old Nisei. I was born to Japanese parents, on January 30, 1919 in Oakland, California. My parents are immigrants. They ran a floral nursery business in Oakland in our earlier years. I am the third son of four boys.
After I graduated high school, I worked as a shipyard welder. Due to my Japanese ancestry, I lost that job after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I was only 22 when America and Japan claimed war. I tried to enlist in the U.S. National Guard and U.S. Coast guard but the military officers turned me away. I assume it was because of my Japanese ancestry. Shortly after the bombing on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 that gave military the authority to remove over 120,000 people of Japanese descendent, most of which were American citizens. At first I thought the exclusion order would be only for aliens and for those that were born in Japan. I didn’t think that the government would go as far as to include American citizens. People of Japanese ancestry were starting to be taken from their homes and being forced to go to American prison camps throughout the United States. Police officers soon came to our home and took everything they saw as a threat such as cameras, tools, and personal items. They told us that we were only allowed to bring a certain amount of possessions and personal items. The certain amount that they allowed was very small and soon, the people who we thought of as friends, instead of helping us, they wanted to take the things they thought they could use themselves because we couldn’t take it with us.
On May 9, 1942 my parents and brothers reported to the Tanforan Assembly Center. I decided to stay behind. I would not be taken from my home, my life and my girlfriend. I do not believe that people of Japanese descent are a threat to America, we were and are loyal citizens and our entire race should not be judged based on a mistake that others made. I was and still am an American citizen, and I had a right to stay where I was. However, I knew that if I got caught, it could result in a bigger consequence in the end but I decided that my life in America and with my girlfriend was more important. I had a minor surgery to make my eyes look less slanted; I changed my name to Clyde Sarah and said I was of Spanish and Hawaiian descent.
I was arrested for my “refusal to comply with the evacuation order” on May 30, 1942 on a street corner in San Leandro, California and was taken to the San Francisco county jail. While I was in jail, Ernest Besig, the director of the San Francisco office of the American Civil Liberties Union, paid me a visit. He asked if I was willing to become the test case that would challenge the constitutionality of the government’s imprisonment of people with Japanese ancestry. I agreed almost immediately. Ernest bailed me out of jail and I was instantly sent to Tanforan. Tanforan was racetrack for horses that was converted into an imprisonment camp. My room was a horse stall; there was no floor, just dirt. There were cracks in the wall and only one light bulb that hung from the ceiling and I had a cot to sleep on. I remember thinking to myself, “gee, jail was better then this”.
We went to trial in San Francisco and I was found guilty of “violating military orders” and was put on a 5-year probation. I lived at the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California and was reunited with my family. Shortly after, my family and I were transferred from Tanforan to Topaz, Utah. The conditions in Topaz were about as bad as the conditions in Tanforan. The landscape was dry, dusty and windy. We were put into small flimsy barracks that each contained two families and slept on cots made of hay. There were cracks in the barracks and when the wind blew, dust filled our barrack from head to toe. I stayed in Topaz for about a year before I decided to appeal my case to the Supreme Court.
I believe the discriminatory conviction goes against freedoms that are guaranteed by our United States Constitution. I just want the chance to feel like an American once again and that is why I am appealing to you today.
Sources:
http://www.ilovehistory.utah.gov/time/stories/topaz.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygkboaLM3do
http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Fred_Korematsu/
http://korematsuinstitute.org/institute/aboutfred/
Kenneth Ringle Witness Testimony
September 30, 1900. I graduated from Westport High School in Kansas City and then entered the U.S. Naval Academy. I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1923. For about five years after graduating from the Naval Academy, I served tours of duty on the USS Mississippi and the USS Isherwood.
I served as a Naval Attaché at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo from 1928 to 1931. While I was there I intensively studied Japanese language and culture. I was one of the few members in the navy that had these skills. After serving in Japan, I married my wife, Margaret Johnston Avery. After I got married, to serve as an assistant gunnery officer on the USS Chester. I served there from 1932 to 1935. Then from July of 1936 to July of 1937, I served as an assistant district intelligence officer for the Fourteenth Naval District in Honolulu, Hawaii. While serving in Honolulu, I gained a greater familiarity with the Japanese American Community. I found the people within the Japanese American Community to be quiet, reserved, kind and extremely hard-workers. I then served as the communications officer on the USS Ranger from 1937 to 1940.
In July 1940, I began serving as the district intelligence officer for the Eleventh Naval District in Los Angeles. Because of my knowledge and familiarity with the Japanese, I was assigned to assess Japanese American loyalty on the West Coast. While doing this job, I built a network of informants within the Japanese American community, particularly members of the Japanese American Citizens League and I regularly attended JACL Southern District meetings. I submitted a report in January 1942 which explained that I thought Japanese were passively loyal and that any potential saboteurs or enemy agents could quickly be identified and imprisoned. I think of some of the Kibei’s as those who were most dangerous to the peace and security of the United States. However, I also believe that other Nisei, who referred to as “cultural traitors” by Japanese agents, posed no threats to the security of the United States. Later, I proposed a plan whereby Nisei be entrusted with the supervision of the Issei and their property as an alternative to mass removal. Later, I recommended that Kibei and some Issei be separated out of the camp population. However, General John Dewitt, the head of the Western Defense Command refused to meet this plan. I believe that for the most part, the Japanese Americans are loyal and that is why I am appealing to you today.
Sources:
http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Kenneth%20Ringle/
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/jap%20intern.htm
September 30, 1900. I graduated from Westport High School in Kansas City and then entered the U.S. Naval Academy. I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1923. For about five years after graduating from the Naval Academy, I served tours of duty on the USS Mississippi and the USS Isherwood.
I served as a Naval Attaché at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo from 1928 to 1931. While I was there I intensively studied Japanese language and culture. I was one of the few members in the navy that had these skills. After serving in Japan, I married my wife, Margaret Johnston Avery. After I got married, to serve as an assistant gunnery officer on the USS Chester. I served there from 1932 to 1935. Then from July of 1936 to July of 1937, I served as an assistant district intelligence officer for the Fourteenth Naval District in Honolulu, Hawaii. While serving in Honolulu, I gained a greater familiarity with the Japanese American Community. I found the people within the Japanese American Community to be quiet, reserved, kind and extremely hard-workers. I then served as the communications officer on the USS Ranger from 1937 to 1940.
In July 1940, I began serving as the district intelligence officer for the Eleventh Naval District in Los Angeles. Because of my knowledge and familiarity with the Japanese, I was assigned to assess Japanese American loyalty on the West Coast. While doing this job, I built a network of informants within the Japanese American community, particularly members of the Japanese American Citizens League and I regularly attended JACL Southern District meetings. I submitted a report in January 1942 which explained that I thought Japanese were passively loyal and that any potential saboteurs or enemy agents could quickly be identified and imprisoned. I think of some of the Kibei’s as those who were most dangerous to the peace and security of the United States. However, I also believe that other Nisei, who referred to as “cultural traitors” by Japanese agents, posed no threats to the security of the United States. Later, I proposed a plan whereby Nisei be entrusted with the supervision of the Issei and their property as an alternative to mass removal. Later, I recommended that Kibei and some Issei be separated out of the camp population. However, General John Dewitt, the head of the Western Defense Command refused to meet this plan. I believe that for the most part, the Japanese Americans are loyal and that is why I am appealing to you today.
Sources:
http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Kenneth%20Ringle/
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/jap%20intern.htm