Today my Asian American legal history class discussed the case of Korematsu v. U.S. and it so happened that Davis was naming a new elementary school after the civil rights activist (I use the term loosely). So for extra credit, my professor told us that we could go to the dedication ceremony and write a one page reaction paper on it.
A friend of mine and I went and we didn’t expect much to happen. “Fred Korematsu was a great man. He contributed to his fellow Japanese Americans by standing up for their civil rights.” Yada yada. The beginning went as normal. But then the announcer introduces Fred Korematsu’s family! :eek: His wife was there as well as son, daughter, nephews, DIL, SIL, grandnephews, the whole bunch! It was crazy.
Anyway, we saw our professor there and we decided to say hi and tell him we were a bit angry that the family didn’t cut the ribbon which opened the school. And who does he pull toward us to introduce to us? Fred Korematsu’s daughter, Karen! We had a nice chat and we even got her to sign our little dedication program. Karen Korematsu then proceeded to usher us into the school to look at the little museum they set up to introduce the public to the life of Fred Korematsu.
As we walked around, our professor then pulled us into a circle of people and get this, introduced us to Kathryn Korematsu, Fred Korematsu’s wife! I was meeting the woman he defied the military to be with. The woman he loved enough to suffer the punishments inflicted upon him for being Japanese. She was also the drive behind his going back to court some 40 years after his conviction to have his record expunged of the criminal offense. It was insane that I was meeting someone who helped change history. Partly because of this woman, the push for reparations for the Japanese ex-internees started. Woah.
I got a picture with her. I’m very pleased. 
Mods: I wasn’t sure if this goes to Cafe Society or not, so please move if this is in the wrong place. 