PAINFUL LESSONS
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However, in the same June, 1943, decision, by a 6 to 3 vote, the Supreme Court upheld the curfew as justified by “wartime necessity.” That decision was the first in a series of cases that today are cited as examples of constitutional protections being brushed aside in the face of wartime hysteria. The same court later upheld the internment itself in the case of Korematsu vs U.S. with one dissenting justice denouncing the decision as "the legalization of racism."
Minoru was “released” after his case was decided into Idaho’s Minidoka internment camp. Denied permission to volunteer for the all Japanese-American 442nd Army regiment because he was now a convicted felon, he served out the remainder of the war interned.
Once freed in 1946 he moved to Denver, Colorado where he was allowed to take the bar only after suing the state. He passed with one of the highest scores on record. Over his career he became a champion of human rights in the city and was eventually appointed to the Denver Commission of Community Relations in 1959. He was designated as its director in 1967 and his work was recognized widely as a large contributor of the prevention of race riots in Denver through the ’60s and ’70s. Today the commission’s building is named for him, as well as an annual community volunteer award and each March 3 in Denver is recognized as Minoru Yasui Day. At the University of Oregon Law School, a chair dedicate to human rights is in his name, the first such honor for a Japanese-American.
Unfortunately, though he did succeed in 1983 in vacating his conviction for violating curfew, as well as aided in obtaining an apology and reparations from the federal government for those interned, he did not accomplish another goal, the overturning of the case that upheld the 1942 curfew. He passed away in 1986 with the Supreme Court still refusing to reexamine the issue.
Minoru was “released” after his case was decided into Idaho’s Minidoka internment camp. Denied permission to volunteer for the all Japanese-American 442nd Army regiment because he was now a convicted felon, he served out the remainder of the war interned.
Once freed in 1946 he moved to Denver, Colorado where he was allowed to take the bar only after suing the state. He passed with one of the highest scores on record. Over his career he became a champion of human rights in the city and was eventually appointed to the Denver Commission of Community Relations in 1959. He was designated as its director in 1967 and his work was recognized widely as a large contributor of the prevention of race riots in Denver through the ’60s and ’70s. Today the commission’s building is named for him, as well as an annual community volunteer award and each March 3 in Denver is recognized as Minoru Yasui Day. At the University of Oregon Law School, a chair dedicate to human rights is in his name, the first such honor for a Japanese-American.
Unfortunately, though he did succeed in 1983 in vacating his conviction for violating curfew, as well as aided in obtaining an apology and reparations from the federal government for those interned, he did not accomplish another goal, the overturning of the case that upheld the 1942 curfew. He passed away in 1986 with the Supreme Court still refusing to reexamine the issue.