Florida Senate - 2015                            (NP)    SR 1568
       
       
        
       By Senator Latvala
       
       
       
       
       
       20-01909-15                                           20151568__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution commemorating the life of Fred T.
    3         Korematsu, American civil rights hero, and recognizing
    4         January 30, 2016, and each January 30 thereafter, as
    5         “Fred T. Korematsu Day" in Florida.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in
    8  December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive
    9  Order 9066, which ordered the internment of Japanese Americans
   10  during World War II, regardless of citizenship, and
   11         WHEREAS, beginning in May 1942, more than 110,000 Japanese
   12  Americans were incarcerated in 10 relocation camps scattered
   13  across the western United States, and
   14         WHEREAS, Japanese American Fred T. Korematsu, then 23 years
   15  of age, refused to comply with the executive order and was
   16  arrested and convicted of evading internment, and
   17         WHEREAS, Fred T. Korematsu appealed his conviction all the
   18  way to the United States Supreme Court, which, on December 18,
   19  1944, in a 6-3 decision, ruled in favor of the government,
   20  finding that the incarceration was justified due to military
   21  necessity, and
   22         WHEREAS, in 1983, legal historian Peter H. Irons and
   23  researcher Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga discovered key documents that
   24  United States Government intelligence agencies had withheld from
   25  the Supreme Court in 1944, which substantiated Fred T.
   26  Korematsu’s defense and showed that Japanese Americans had not
   27  committed any acts of treason or other acts of espionage to
   28  justify mass incarceration, and
   29         WHEREAS, with this new evidence, a pro bono legal team that
   30  included representatives of the Asian Law Caucus reopened Fred
   31  T. Korematsu’s 40-year-old case on the basis of government
   32  misconduct, and
   33         WHEREAS, on November 10, 1983, Fred T. Korematsu’s
   34  conviction was overturned in a federal court in San Francisco, a
   35  pivotal moment in our nation’s civil rights history, and
   36         WHEREAS, Fred T. Korematsu remained a civil rights activist
   37  throughout his life and, in 1998, was awarded the Presidential
   38  Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by
   39  President Bill Clinton, and
   40         WHEREAS, in 2010, the California Legislature passed
   41  legislation recognizing January 30 of each year as “Fred T.
   42  Korematsu Day,” the first such recognition of an Asian American,
   43  and
   44         WHEREAS, in the 2014-2015 school year, Catherine Fernandez’
   45  grade 7 civics class at Clearwater Fundamental Middle School
   46  created a project celebrating the life of Fred T. Korematsu and
   47  recognizing January 30, 2015, as “Fred T. Korematsu Day,” and
   48         WHEREAS, Fred T. Korematsu’s growing legacy continues to
   49  inspire people of all backgrounds and demonstrates the
   50  importance of speaking out against injustice, NOW, THEREFORE,
   51  
   52  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   53  
   54         That we recognize January 30, 2016, and each January 30
   55  thereafter, as “Fred T. Korematsu Day” in Florida and encourage
   56  schools to conduct exercises honoring the life of this civil
   57  rights hero and acknowledging the importance of preserving civil
   58  liberties, even in times of great national crisis.