"AM I AN AMERICAN
OR AM I NOT?"
- Fred Korematsu
A new traveling exhibit from the Fred T. Korematsu Institute asks visitors to think about examples of unfair treatment from our country's past and present in order to protect the American promises of life, liberty, and justice for all.
Exhibit Themes
Immigration & Citizenship
Othering
Loyalty & Resistance
Solidarity & Resilience
Fred T. Korematsu, one of 125,000 law-abiding immigrants and American citizens unjustly incarcerated during WWII, is famous for his 1944 U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.
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When faced with federal criminal charges for not obeying the military orders to leave his home without due process, the 23-year-old U.S. citizen remembered his Constitutional rights and asked, “am I an American or am I not?”
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Decades later, in 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, for his courage in defying the government's orders and fighting for justice.
This is about all of us.
The WWII Incarceration is not just about Japanese Americans. Across groups and throughout time are many stories that challenge Constitutional liberties and human rights in our country. This exhibition bridges past and present, highlights stories of connection, and asks visitors to consider what they will do to stand up for justice for all.
Related stories in the exhibit include:
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Indigenous Citizenship
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Civil Rights Movement
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Asian American Movement
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Muslim American Rights
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Immigrant Detention