What Japanese incarceration camps in WWII and Trump’s Muslim ban have in common | Opinion – Detroit Free Press

Fred Korematsu at his home in San Leandro, Calif. Wednesday, Aug.14,1996. Korematsu will travel to Harbor Beach, Mich. for the Aug. 16, 1996 celebration of the 1944 Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States in which the court upheld the ultimate internment of Japanese Americans in detention camps. (AP Photo/Robin Weiner)(Photo: Robin Weiner, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

During World War II, a 23-year-old Japanese-American named Fred Korematsu valiantly fought the U.S. governments efforts to put him in an incarceration camp. His epic legal battles provide both inspiration and insight as America grapples with the ongoing fallout from Donald Trumps shameful Muslim ban.

When I think about my personal heroes, one of the people high on the list is Fred T. Korematsu, whose birthday this weekend was marked by events held in his honor around the country.

Like a lot of people, I first learned about the civil rights activist in a high school civics class. But for me, and countless others, he is so much more than just some name in a history book. More than a century after his birth and 15 years past his death, he remains an inspiration. And a guide.

Rana Elmir(Photo: Rana Elmir)

His legacy could not be more timely. The similarities between his lawsuit involving the incarceration of Japanese Americans during world War II and the legal battles fought over Donald Trumps Muslim ban are chilling.

President Joe Biden may have put an end to the ban last week, but, as was the case with Mr. Korematsu, we cannot fully address the wrongs done by that ban and the harm it continues to cause until we have justice.

Born in the United States to Japanese immigrants, Mr. Korematsu, at the age of 23, provided all of us a shining example of conviction and courage in the face of racist-fueled oppression by the U.S. government during World War II.

In what is now clearly recognized as an unconscionable violation of their constitutional rights, 120,000 people of Japanese descent two-thirds of them American citizens were sent to incarceration camps scattered across the western United States as the result of an executive order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. The immense financial loss and human suffering that followed were justified by claims of national security.

Instead of quietly acquiescing to the assault on his constitutional rights and humanity, Mr. Korematsu who had previously tried to enlist in the U.S. military to fight for his country, but was rejected because of his race refused to abide by the governments order, resulting in his arrest and conviction. With the ACLU of Northern California standing by his side, he appealed in a landmark case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Central to the case was the claim that Mr. Korematsu and other Japanese Americans were being singled out because of their race, not any legitimate national security purpose.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court ruled against Mr. Korematsu. That 1944 decision still stands today. But Mr. Korematsu did not stop pursuing justice, even though it took decades.

In 1983, using previously suppressed government documents proving the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies had no evidence of Japanese Americans posing a security threat, Mr. Korematsu and a team of lawyers working pro bono returned to federal court, seeking to have his conviction overturned.

In what has been described as a pivotal moment in U.S. civil rights history, Mr. Korematsu stood in front of a federal judge and said:

"According to the Supreme Court decision regarding my case, being an American citizen was not enough. They say you have to look like one, otherwise they say you cant tell a difference between a loyal and a disloyal American. I thought that this decision was wrong and I still feel that way. As long as my record stands in federal court, any American citizen can be held in prison or concentration camps without a trial or a hearing. That is if they look like the enemy of our country. Therefore, I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed or color."

His conviction was overturned. Yethis heroics did not end there. In the aftermath of 9/11, Mr. Korematsu repeatedly warned that the extreme national security measures being imposed were dangerously similar to the injustices he and others were forced to endure five decades earlier.

I cant express how important his words were. As a Muslim who immigrated to the country from Lebanon as a child with my family, his courage gave me and many others great comfort. At a time when the U.S. government painted targets on the backs of every Muslim, Mr. Korematsu was there reminding America that, if we are going to live up to our ideals and abide by the Constitution, none of us should have to live in fear because of the color of our skin or the religion we practice, or the country we hail from.

In 2017, I once again found solace in Mr. Korematsus words as I began to receive panicked calls from people stranded all around the globe, caught in the chaotic aftermath of Donald Trumps Muslim ban, one of the first actions he took as president. And I thought of his words again last week when President Joe Biden rescinded the shameful Muslim ban as one of his first actions.

To be clear, rescinding the Muslim Ban, and calling it a moral abomination, is but the first step in our road to redemption. We must also provide immediate and complete justice to those who were banned individuals like Anwar, who won the American immigration lottery, sold practically everything he owned, borrowed money from friends and family to make the long journey from Yemen to Djibouti, because Yemen no longer has an American embassy, only to be turned away and left in debt because of the Muslim ban.

It is critical that the administration make Anwar and so many others like him whole.

Those who had their once-in-a-lifetime immigration lottery win taken away because of discrimination must have their visas restored. We must waive fees for those who were denied and have to reapply. We must expedite the processing of their visas, and we must do this now.

The chants of let them in that reverberated through every major airport in the U.S. that fateful day in 2017 were a promise to the world. It is critical that we keep this promise to not only those who want to make America home tomorrow, but to those who were turned away many yesterdays ago.

And once weve made them whole, we owe them, and ourselves, the truth.

After WWII, survivors, historiansand activists used the Freedom of Information Act and archival records to paint the horrific picture of Japanese incarceration we see now its human tragedy, and the lies the government told to justify its actions. It is these inescapable truths that finally allowed survivors and their loved ones to achieve the redress they deserve, while also holding the government to account for the monstrous violations of peoples rights.

As Mr. Korematsu and so many survivors have taught us: If we are going to learn from our history, and not be doomed to forever repeatit, it is vital that we be able to see our history clearly and completely, without obstruction.

Thats why, as part of our challenge to that Muslim ban in federal court, we along with the Arab American Civil Rights League have been trying for more than three years to obtain a memo from a Rudy Giuliani-led commission formed to create a legal rationale for the Muslim ban.

We believe the Giuliani memo will show, despite the Trump administrations feeble claims to the contrary, the Muslim ban, like Japanese incarceration before it, had nothing to do with national security and everything to do with stoking fear, hatred and xenophobia in a dangerously cynical attempt to score political points.

It is our hope that, with Mr. Trump now gone from the White House, President Biden will allow that memo and related documents to see the light of day.

Like Fred Korematsu, I am a fervent advocate of truth and reconciliation. But for there to be any hope of reconciliation, we first must have the truth. All of it. That means, as a country, taking a hard look at the damage we caused in peoples lives, atoning for our grave mistakes and finally disclosing the lies we told ourselves to justify them.

For Anwar. For Mr. Korematsu. For all of us.

Rana Elmir is acting executive director of the ACLU of Michigan.

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What Japanese incarceration camps in WWII and Trump's Muslim ban have in common | Opinion - Detroit Free Press