BILL NUMBER: AB 1775 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 9, 2010
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Furutani and Block
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Arambula, Brownley, Carter,
Eng, Hayashi, and Torlakson)
FEBRUARY 9, 2010
An act to amend Section 37222 of, to add Sections 37222.10,
37222.11, 37222.12, 37222.13, 37222.14, and 37222.15 to, and to
repeal Section 37222.5 of, the Education Code, and to add Section
6722 to the Government Code, relating to public schools.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1775, Furutani. Public schools: Fred Korematsu Day of Civil
Liberties and the Constitution.
Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim certain days each
year for specified reasons. Existing law also designates particular
days each year as having special significance in public schools and
educational institutions and encourages those entities to conduct
suitable commemorative exercises on those dates.
This bill would require the Governor annually to proclaim January
30 as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution,
would designate that date of each year as having special significance
in public schools and educational institutions, and would encourage
those entities to observe that date by conducting exercises
remembering the life of Fred Korematsu and recognizing the importance
of preserving civil liberties.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting
this act to do all of the following:
(1) Declare January 30 the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties
and the Constitution.
(2) Emphasize the constitutional rights afforded to all Americans
regardless of race or ancestry, particularly the rights to due
process and life, liberty, and property that are guaranteed by the
Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
(3) Uphold the civil liberties of all citizens that are granted by
the United States and California Constitutions, especially in times
of real or perceived crisis.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) During World War II, Fred Korematsu was arrested and convicted
for defying the exclusion order at a time when persons of Japanese
ancestry, including United States citizens, were ordered to live in
concentration camps. Four decades later, Korematsu's wrongful
conviction was overturned by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the United
States District Court for the Northern District of California. In
granting Mr. Korematsu's petition for writ of error coram nobis,
Judge Patel acknowledged in her decision that "a grave injustice was
done to American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry
who, without individual review or any probative evidence against
them, were excluded, removed and detained by the United States during
World War II." Judge Patel further stated, "[Korematsu] stands as a
caution that in times of distress the shield of military necessity
and national security must not be used to protect governmental
actions from close scrutiny and accountability. It stands as a
caution that in times of international hostility and antagonisms our
institutions, legislative, executive, and judicial, must be prepared
to exercise their authority to protect all citizens from the petty
fears and prejudices that are so easily aroused."
(2) Fred Korematsu's lifelong pursuit of justice on his own behalf
and for countless others is uniquely symbolic of the founding ideals
and traditions of our State and Nation. He remained a tireless
advocate for, and is an enduring symbol of, every American's right to
liberty, due process, and equality without regard to race,
ethnicity, or national origin.
(3) In 1942, Gordon K. Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui also defied
the curfew imposed on United States citizens and permanent residents
of Japanese ancestry. In 1943, Hirabayashi and Yasui were also
wrongfully convicted and denied justice by the United States Supreme
Court.
(4) The Fifth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of our United
States Constitution both guarantee a right to due process. These
rights were violated when United States citizens and permanent
residents of Japanese ancestry were denied the fundamental rights to
notice of any criminal charges, the right to attorneys, and the right
to a trial. Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and Yasui each took a principled
stand at great personal sacrifice in protesting government
sanctioned discrimination based on racial heritage and ancestry.
(5) Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland, California, on January 30,
1919, to Japanese immigrant parents. Upon graduation from Castlemont
High School in 1937, Fred Korematsu wanted to serve his country in
the military and attempted to enlist in the United States National
Guard and the United States Coast Guard, but was rejected because his
Selective Service classification had been changed to "Enemy Alien,"
even though he was a citizen of the United States.
(6) Fred Korematsu attended the Master School of Welding and
worked at the docks in Oakland as a shipyard welder, quickly rising
through the ranks to foreman until his union barred all people of
Japanese ancestry and his employment was terminated. When World War
II broke out, Fred Korematsu suffered from acts of discrimination, as
he was turned away from restaurants and barber shops, and denied the
right to work, travel, and ultimately to reside in his native State
of California.
(7) In 1942, Fred Korematsu refused to comply with Civilian
Exclusion Order No. 34 which was authorized by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt's Executive Order No. 9066. It imposed strict curfew
regulations and required over 100,000 United States citizens and
permanent residents of Japanese ancestry to leave their homes on the
West Coast and submit to imprisonment based solely on their ancestry.
Rather than reporting to the assembly center with the rest of his
family, Fred Korematsu chose to defy the order and decided to carry
on his life as an American citizen and a citizen of the State of
California.
(8) Fred Korematsu was arrested on May 30, 1942, and charged with
violating the military's exclusion order. While spending two and
one-half months in the Presidio stockade prison in San Francisco, the
Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern
California, Ernest Besig, offered to defend him. Fred Korematsu was
tried and convicted by a federal court and taken by military
authorities to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California,
where he lived in squalor. After spending several months at
Tanforan, a former horse racing track, Korematsu and his family were
sent to the Topaz concentration camp in Utah. Believing the
discriminatory conviction went against freedoms guaranteed by the
Constitution, Fred Korematsu appealed his case. Though the appeal
went up to the United States Supreme Court in 1944, justice was
denied to Fred Korematsu when the Supreme Court upheld the conviction
by a six to three vote, leaving him devastated and wondering what
effect this would have on other Americans.
(9) Tens of thousands of Japanese American soldiers fought in
Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific during World War II and served
with indomitable spirit and valor, including those in the 442nd
Infantry, the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 522nd Field Artillery
Battalion, the Military Intelligence Service, the 232nd Combat
Engineer Company, and the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion. The
442nd Infantry of the United States Army was a combat team composed
primarily of Japanese American soldiers who fought in Europe. Some
members of the 442nd were recruited directly from the concentration
camps, and many others had relatives that were incarcerated in the
camps. Grouped together as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the unit
became the most decorated unit in United States military history for
its size and length of service, receiving seven Presidential Unit
Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, 560
Silver Stars, 4,000 Bronze Stars, and numerous additional
distinctions.
(10) Following World War II and the release of Japanese Americans
from the concentration camps, Fred Korematsu attempted to resume life
as an American citizen, marrying his wife Kathryn and raising two
children, Karen and Ken. He maintained his innocence through the
years, but the conviction had a lasting impact on Fred Korematsu's
basic rights, affecting his ability to obtain employment.
(11) In 1982, with newly discovered evidence found by Peter Irons,
a legal historian and attorney, and Aiko Yoshinaga-Herzig, a
researcher, Fred Korematsu made the decision to reopen his 1944
conviction by petitioning for a writ of error coram nobis to have the
wrongful conviction vacated. The task of retrying a legal case based
on events 40 years past was complicated and novel, but a pro bono
legal team composed mostly of Sansei (third generation Japanese
Americans) was determined to undo the injustice perpetrated on Fred
Korematsu and their own family members who were imprisoned along with
Korematsu. Similarly, Minoru Yasui and Gordon K. Hirabayashi also
petitioned for writs of error coram nobis in Oregon and Washington.
Fred Korematsu's attorneys worked closely with the legal teams
assembled for the Minoru Yasui and Gordon K. Hirabayashi cases. These
pro bono teams were also composed primarily of Sansei, and together
the attorneys for the three cases developed the legal strategies that
would prove successful in defending the civil rights of Fred
Korematsu, Minoru Yasui, Gordon K. Hirabayashi, and all Americans.
(12) The writ of error coram nobis has been extremely limited in
application, but has been used by courts once an individual has been
convicted and released in order to correct a court's fundamental
error or to reverse a manifest injustice. For Fred Korematsu, the
fundamental errors at the Supreme Court level were the suppression,
alteration, and destruction of evidence by United States government
officials that Japanese Americans were not disloyal nor were
predisposed to espionage and sabotage, as had been argued by the
government in the Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and Yasui cases, and that
no facts warranted the issuance of the military orders and Executive
Order No. 9066. Thus, Fred Korematsu's lawyers argued that a fraud on
the Supreme Court had been committed, resulting in Fred Korematsu's
conviction.
(13) After litigating for nearly a year in the United States
District Court for the Northern District of California, Fred
Korematsu and his legal team emerged triumphant on November 10, 1983,
when Judge Marilyn Hall Patel announced from the bench her decision
granting the petition for the writ of error coram nobis to overturn
Fred Korematsu's conviction. The written decision was published on
April 19, 1984.
(14) The decision by Judge Patel influenced petitions for writ of
error coram nobis in the United States District Courts of Oregon and
Washington, where Minoru Yasui and Gordon K. Hirabayashi successfully
filed to have their wrongful convictions vacated. The coram nobis
decisions in these cases impaired the precedent of the original
Supreme Court cases which validated the curfew and exclusion orders.
In addition, the decisions influenced Congress' passage of the Civil
Liberties Act of 1988.
(15) The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was signed into law by
President Ronald Reagan and recognized the grave injustice that was
done to United States residents and citizens of Japanese ancestry by
the forced relocation and incarceration of civilians during World War
II. Congress acknowledged that the incarceration of these Japanese
Americans occurred because of racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and
a failure of political leadership. The apology extended on behalf of
the United States was also intended to make more credible and to be
consistent with any expressions of concern by the United States over
violations of human rights committed by other nations.
(16) On January 15, 1998, Fred Korematsu was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is
the highest honor bestowed upon a civilian who has made a
particularly meritorious contribution to the nation's interests.
(17) On June 11, 1998, Fred Korematsu received the first
California Senate Medal.
(18) Fred Korematsu continued his efforts to ensure that Americans
do not forget the lessons learned from our own history as he
traveled across the country, speaking at various colleges, law
schools, and other organizations. He received honorary doctorates
from the University of San Francisco, California State University,
East Bay (formerly California State University, Hayward), McGeorge
School of Law, and the City University of New York Law School. Fred
Korematsu shared his story and encouraged others to speak up when
faced with injustice.
(19) After September 11, 2001 (9/11), Korematsu continued to speak
out. In 2003, he filed a "Friend-of-the-Court" brief with the United
States Supreme Court on behalf of Muslim inmates being held at
Guantanamo Bay, warning that the government's extreme national
security measures were reminiscent of the past. In 2004, he filed a
similar brief on behalf of an American Muslim man being held in
solitary confinement without a trial in a United States military
prison.
(20) Fred Korematsu's life was the basis for the Emmy
award-winning 2001 Public Broadcasting Service documentary "Of Civil
Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story," coproduced by Eric Paul
Fournier and Fred Korematsu's son, Ken Korematsu. The coram nobis
cases were also the subject of an Oscar nominated film, "Unfinished
Business" directed by Steven Okazaki.
(21) A true civil liberties hero was lost on March 30, 2005, when
Fred Korematsu passed away at 86 years of age due to respiratory
illness in San Rafael, California, leaving behind a lasting influence
on the importance of maintaining the constitutionally mandated
guarantee of liberty for all Americans.
(22) On April 18, 2009, Seattle University School of Law opened
the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality.
(23) On April 30, 2009, the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco
officially launched the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights
and Education. The mission of the institute is to advance pan-ethnic
civil rights issues, in a post-9/11 context, through education,
leadership development, and activism. Fred Korematsu's daughter,
Karen Korematsu, helped found the Korematsu Institute. She is active
in advancing her father's legacy as a member of the Institute's
Steering Committee and as a speaker at universities and organizations
across the country.
(24) In November 2005, an elementary school at Mace Ranch in
Davis, California, was renamed the Fred T. Korematsu Elementary
School at Mace Ranch. In November 2006, the Discovery Academy
elementary school in Oakland, California, was renamed the Fred T.
Korematsu Discovery Academy. On December 15, 2009, the governing
board of the San Leandro Unified School District, in a unanimous
decision, named the new 9th grade campus the San Leandro High School
Fred T. Korematsu Campus.
(25) In 1988, two new streets in San Jose, California, were named
Korematsu Court and Hirabayashi Drive.
(26) Fred Korematsu's life and his willingness to assert that our
civil liberties are the hallmark of our great country have left an
indelible mark on the history of our nation and holds a special
meaning for the people of California.
SEC. 2. Section 37222 of the Education Code is amended to read:
37222. (a) On each day designated and set apart as a day having
special significance, all public schools and educational institutions
are encouraged to observe that day and to conduct suitable
commemorative exercises.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the exercises
encouraged by this section be integrated into the regular school
program, and be conducted by the school or institution within the
amount otherwise budgeted for educational programs.
SEC. 3. Section 37222.10 is added to the Education Code, to read:
37222.10. (a) The second Wednesday in May of each year is
designated and set apart as the Day of the Teacher, a day having
special significance pursuant to Section 37222.
(b) On the Day of the Teacher, all public schools and educational
institutions are encouraged to conduct exercises commemorating and
directing attention to teachers and the teaching profession.
SEC. 4. Section 37222.11 is added to the Education Code, to read:
37222.11. (a) April 21 of each year is designated and set apart
as John Muir Day, a day having special significance pursuant to
Section 37222.
(b) On John Muir Day, all public schools and educational
institutions are encouraged to conduct exercises stressing the
importance that an ecologically sound natural environment plays in
the quality of life for all of us, and emphasizing John Muir's
significant contributions to the fostering of that awareness and the
indelible mark he left on the State of California.
SEC. 5. Section 37222.12 is added to the Education Code, to read:
37222.12. (a) April 6 of each year is designated and set apart as
California Poppy Day, a day having special significance pursuant to
Section 37222.
(b) On California Poppy Day, all public schools and educational
institutions are encouraged to conduct exercises honoring the
California Poppy, including instruction about native plants,
particularly the California Poppy, and the economic and aesthetic
value of wildflowers; promoting responsible behavior toward our
natural resources and a spirit of protection toward them; and
emphasizing the value of natural resources and conservation of
natural resources.
SEC. 6. Section 37222.13 is added to the Education Code, to read:
37222.13. (a) May 22 of each year is designated and set apart as
Harvey Milk Day, a day having special significance pursuant to
Section 37222.
(b) On Harvey Milk Day, all public schools and educational
institutions are encouraged to conduct exercises remembering the life
of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments, and familiarizing
pupils with the contributions he made to this state.
SEC. 7. Section 37222.14 is added to the Education Code, to read:
37222.14. (a) March 30 of each year is designated and set apart
as Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day, a day having special
significance pursuant to Section 37222.
(b) On Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day, all public schools and
educational institutions are encouraged to conduct exercises
recognizing the contributions of all those involved in the Vietnam
War and remembering the sacrifices they made for their country.
SEC. 8. Section 37222.15 is added to the Education Code, to read:
37222.15. (a) January 30 of each year is designated and set apart
as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, a day
having special significance pursuant to Section 37222.
(b) On Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution,
all public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to
conduct exercises remembering the life of Fred Korematsu and
recognizing the importance of preserving civil liberties, even in
times of real or perceived crisis.
SEC. 9. Section 37222.5 of the Education Code is repealed.
SEC. 10. Section 6722 is added to the Government Code, to read:
6722. The Governor annually shall proclaim January 30 as Fred
Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution.