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Interviews

Hirabayashi,Gordon

(1918-2012) Fought the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066.

Bypassing the Constitution

His, his instructions—you know, the jury is told what to do by the judge. And so in my situation, the judge says, "You heard all this discussion about the Constitution and all that. That's irrelevant. Whatever the Constitution says, the thing that you must take into consideration is this Executive Order 9066 issued by the general in charge." And he reads it out. "Now, you're to determine to what extent this applied. Is this person of Japanese ancestry? If he is, did he comply with these restrictions? If he didn't, you must come back with a guilty verdict. If he did, then he's not guilty." They went in.

It didn't take them too long. As jury, they probably just took enough time to settle down and then review this, these things, instructions and so on, and say it's pretty cut-and-dried, isn't it? Why don't we take a vote on it before wasting too much time? Because they came out fairly rapidly. And, and then the verdict was guilty. And the judge asked, "Is this the way you all felt unanimously?" "Yep." And so that was it.


imprisonment incarceration resistance

Date: December 5, 1999

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda, Alice Ito

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Gordon Hirabayashi was born in 1918 in Seattle, Washington. As a student at the University of Washington, Hirabayashi was active in the YMCA and became a believer in social action and pacifism. With the outbreak of World War II and the consequential evacuation order of persons of Japanese ancestry, he chose to oppose the government's actions on the grounds of his personal beliefs as well as a constitutional issue.

Hirabayashi turned himself in to the FBI for violating curfew and was sentenced to prison for 90 days. With the support of the ACLU, his case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court in Hirabayashi v. United States. In 1943, the court ruled unanimously against him.

Some four decades later, Peter Irons uncovered documents that clearly showed government misconduct in 1942 that directly affected Hirabayashi's court case. With this new information, Hirabayashi's verdict was overturned in 1987 and long over-due justice was restored.

He passed away on January 2, 2012 at the age of 93. (January 4, 2012)

Henry Shimizu
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Shimizu,Henry

Sneaking out of the Hastings Park camp during World War II

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

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Venancio Shinki
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Shinki,Venancio

Hiding out to avoid the concentration camps (Spanish)

(b. 1932-2016) Peruvian painter

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Bill Hosokawa
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Hosokawa,Bill

A Reporter’s Responsibility

(1915 - 2007) Journalist

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Cherry Kinoshita
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Kinoshita,Cherry

Erasing the Bitterness

(1923–2008) One of the leaders behind the redress movement.

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Daniel K. Inouye
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Inouye,Daniel K.

Responding to the U.S. government

(1924-2012) Senator of Hawaii

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Frank Emi
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Emi,Frank

Speaking out in camp

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

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Frank Emi
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Emi,Frank

Would do the same again

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

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Frank Emi
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Emi,Frank

“No more shikataganai

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Traumatic experiences before camp

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

“Everybody went in like sheep”

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Going to camp with the Terminal Island people

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Outhouses and showers at camp

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Interned at age fifteen, I saw camp as an adventure

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

The riot in Manzanar

(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan

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Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman
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Wasserman,Fumiko Hachiya

The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache

Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

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