The farm worker movement celebrates today, Jan. 30, 2012, as Fred Korematsu’s birthday, recognizing his heroic struggle for the civil rights of Japanese Americans. In 1941, during World War II, just after the Pearl Harbor attack in Hawaii by Japan, all Japanese Americans, many of them U.S. citizens, were placed in internment camps. Fred Korematsu was a victim of this racist abuse of innocent people's civil and human rights. Just like Cesar Chavez, Fred Korematsu dedicated his life to fighting back against discrimination suffered by his people. After decades of legal challenges, his conviction for refusing internment in 1942 was reversed in the federal courts. In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded Fred Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, the same award Cesar Chavez received after his passing. Today, January 30, California recognizes Fred Korematsu’s Day for the second year in a row. The Radio Campesina Spanish-language educational radio network is recognizing Korematsu Day by broadcasting public service announcements today. To learn more about Japanese American civil rights leader Fred Karematsu, you can log on to www.korematsuinstitute.org
