Interviews

1. The importance of Japanese American role models in childhood community

2. Avoiding the pigeonhole of stereotypes during school years

3. First learning about the incarceration experience in college

4. Recognizing issues of dual identity in the nisei generation

5. Heightened awareness of identity as a Japanese American

6. Feeling angry upon reading of Supreme Court case, 'Korematsu v. United States'

7. Is 'Korematsu v. United States' still a threat to American civil liberties?

8. Working on the 'case of a lifetime'

Bannai,Lorraine

(b. 1955) Lawyer

Heightened awareness of identity as a Japanese American

I think that the experience of number one, getting involved in Asian American Studies, taking Asian American Studies classes, and number (two), through those classes, getting more involved with other Japanese Americans and Asian Americans on campus certainly really gave me a much more heightened sense of my own identity as a Japanese American. We talked about identity issues, read the literature going on in the community around issues of identity in class, and so we were all able individually to look at ourselves and say, “Well, who am I, and how do I fit into all of this?” And all of that certainly made me much more aware of myself as a Japanese American woman because growing up in Gardena, I wasn't so aware of being a Japanese American woman as much as I was aware of being in this community that just had a bunch of Japanese Americans, but not in the context, not being Japanese Americans in the context of a larger society.

Date: March 23 & 24, 2000

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Margaret Chon, Alice Ito

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Sansei female. Born 1955 in Los Angeles, CA. Grew up in Gardena, CA, surrounded by a large Japanese American community. Influenced by father's role in community and politics, and mother's emphasis on education. Attended University of California, Santa Barbara where she became increasingly aware of Japanese American history, issues of ethnic identity and racial inequality. Attended the University of San Francisco School of Law where she honed her commitment to political and social activism.

Only a few years out of law school, she joined a team of lawyers working to reopen the Supreme Court's 1944 decision in Korematsu v. United States. Convicted of violating the exclusion order during World War II, Mr. Korematsu's case went all the way to the Supreme Court where the exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans was upheld as constitutional, based on the government's argument of 'military necessity.' Through a petition for writ of error coram nobis (establishing that the case was premised on errors of fact withheld from the judge and the defense by the prosecution), the legal team reopened the case, provided evidence that the factual underpinnings to the exclusion orders were fraudulent, and successfully had the Korematsu conviction vacated, as well as a handful of other similar convictions. In this interview, Ms. Bannai discusses the coram nobis legal team, the support for the effort among the Japanese American community, and personal lessons gained from being a part of this effort. (March 24, 2000)