YPR| “Fred Korematsu’s Fight Against Yellow Peril, Then and Now”

Date and time: 2:00-3:00pm CT; June 23rd, Friday, 2023
The case of Korematsu v. United States is noted as one of the worst U.S. Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history. On December 18, 1944, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy issued a vehement dissent, saying that the exclusion of Japanese "falls into the ugly abyss of racism", and resembles "the abhorrent and despicable treatment of minority groups by the dictatorial tyrannies which this nation is now pledged to destroy."
To be assumed “guilty” because you “look like the enemy” is purely about racism. That is what Fred Korematsu fought against and that is what Dr. Karen Korematsu is fighting against now. We will discuss what we need to do as a society to shift the culture and kill the viruses of the yellow peril, xenophobia, bigotry, and fight racism head on. This is about all of us!

Speaker: Dr. Karen Korematsu (Founder & Executive Director of the Fred Korematsu Institute)
Chair: Dr. David Chih (Director of the UIUC Asian American Cultural Center)