The UC Irvine School of Law celebrated the opening of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality this week with dignitaries and civil rights activists including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Karen Korematsu and Sylvia Mendez, whose landmark 1946 case Mendez v. Westminster paved the way for desegrated schools.
“The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality is certainly an incredible addition to UC Irvine, and it’s an incredible addition to California,” Bonta said.
Professor Robert Chang at a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Sylvia Mendez laughs as she is introduced during a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Sylvia Mendez played an instrumental role in the 1946 Mendez v. Westminster case which helped end school segregation in California. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dean Austen Parrish during a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Professor Robert Chang and Dr. Karen Korematsu at a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dean Austen Parrish unveils a rocking chair for Professor Robert Chang during the announcement that Chang will be the Syliva Menez Chair for Presidential Civil Rights at a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Sylvia Mendez played an instrumental role in the 1946 Mendez v. Westminster case which helped end school segregation in California. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dr. Karen Korematsu, walks past pictures of her father, Fred T. Korematsu, wearing the Presidental Medal of Freedom, left, and standing with Rosa Parks, during a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dr. Karen Korematsu, walks past pictures of her father, Fred T. Korematsu, wearing the Presidental Medal of Freedom, left, and standing with Rosa Parks, during a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A photo of Fred T. Korematsu with Rosa Parks is behind Dr. Karen Korematsu as she addresses people during a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dr. Karen Korematsu during a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Professor Robert Chang at a celebration for UC Irvine’s Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality in Irvine, CA, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. The Korematsu Center, which moved from Seattle to Irvine, honors the legacy of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his battle against Order 9066 at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that was overturned 40 years later. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The center, which began at Seattle University 15 years ago, moved to UCI this fall along with its director, Professor Robert Chang. It focuses on research, advocacy and clinical education around systemic racism, such as criminal laws and police violence that disproportionately target people of color, Chang said.
The center is named for Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American citizen who was arrested in 1942 for refusing to obey Executive Order 9066, a law used by the American government to incarcerate Japanese American citizens in internment camps throughout the West.
Korematsu, then 23 years old, appealed his case to the Supreme Court, which ruled in a 6-3 decision that the detention of Japanese American citizens was legal — a “military necessity” not based on race. More than 40 years later, his case was reopened and in 1983 federal judge Marylyn Hall Patel overturned his conviction in the same San Francisco courthouse where he had been ruled guilty as a young man. Yet, the Supreme Court’s infamous ruling was not overturned until 2018.
“It’s easy to think that something so unjust could not happen today,” Bonta said during his visit to UCI. “The unfortunate reality is we still have a lot of work to do to ensure a more just society.”
“Progress is not linear,” he added. “It’s a continuum — always, in the end, with forward movement if we ensure that it moves in that direction if we fight for it.”
Karen Korematsu, Fred’s daughter, fought back tears at the center’s opening ceremony as she and UCI Law School Dean Austen Parrish unveiled two photographs of her father that will be displayed outside the dean’s office. In one, Fred Korematsu wears the Presidential Medal of Freedom, bestowed to him in 1998. In the other, he stands with fellow civil rights activist Rosa Parks.
“My father was one person who made a difference in the face of adversity,” Korematsu said. “And, that’s what I tell students – so can they.”
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