Date: : 03/31/2005

Washington, D.C. - The Organization of Chinese Americans is deeply saddened by
the passing of civil rights icon Fred Korematsu. Korematsu, recipient of the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and the defendant in the landmark case Korematsu
v. United States, died at his daughter’s home in California last night at the
age of 86."Fred Korematsu stood up for his rights as an American. His experience is a
lesson in the perseverance it takes to be effective in the civil rights
movement,” said OCA National President Ginny Gong. “When at first he did not
succeed in challenging the law of the land that said Japanese Americans were to
be interned during World War II, he was vindicated four long decades later when
that case was overturned. In 1998, the government that once denied him his most
basic of civil rights, bestowed on him its highest civilian honor, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. Today, we learn in the history books about this
brave man who fully knew the value of being an American. The Asian Pacific
American community will miss him greatly."

"Fred Korematsu was a courageous, selfless role model who showed us that
challenging our government is not just our right, it is also our patriotic duty.
Fred Korematsu took his case to the Supreme Court because he loved America and
loved being an American, and when America wanted to intern thousands of his
community, he made a stand and said ‘this is not right’ in order to make the
America he loved a better country." said OCA Executive Director Christine Chen.

Korematsu's story was the subject of an Emmy-winning PBS documentary in 2002.
Last year, Korematsu added his voice to the chorus of civil rights leaders and
organizations advocating for non-discrimination of Arab Americans post 9-11.

“Fears and prejudices directed against minority communities are too easy to
evoke and exaggerate, often to serve the political agendas of those who promote
those fears. I know what it is like to be at the other end of such scapegoating
and how difficult it is to clear one's name after unjustified suspicions are
endorsed as fact by the government. If someone is a spy or terrorist they should
be prosecuted for their actions. But no one should ever be locked away simply
because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist.
If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans,
then these are very dangerous times for our democracy,” Korematsu wrote in an
editorial to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Korematsu is survived by his wife, Katherine, his daughter, Karen, and son, Ken.