Karen Korematsu Interview: Uncovering the Impact of Japanese American Incarceration

Karen Korematsu draws parallels between the Japanese American incarceration of World War II with the 2017 Muslim Travel Ban and the U.S. - Mexico Border crisis. She discusses the need for Americans to be civilly engaged and the privilege of voting.

Karen Korematsu is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute and the daughter of Fred Korematsu. She has carried on his legacy as a public speaker, educator, and civil rights advocate. The Institute was founded in 2009 to advance racial equity, social justice, civic education and participation, and human rights. Korematsu’s work extends to advocating civil liberties for all communities and addresses current issues that draw upon lessons of the past. Korematsu was inducted as the first non-lawyer member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Her op-eds appeared in the NY Times and Washington Post and she has received the Muslim Advocates-Voice of Freedom Award; the ACLU-Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award; and the Community Leadership Award from APAICS, Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies in Washington, D.C.

From the HBO / Kunhardt Film Foundation (KFF) Documentary “The Soul of America.” Based on Jon Meacham's bestseller that illuminates our present-day fraught political reality by exploring historical challenges including the women's suffrage movement, the incarceration of Japanese Americans, McCarthyism, and the fight for Civil Rights.

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Karen Korematsu, Daughter of Fred Korematsu
Interview Date: June 7, 2019
Interviewed by: Katie Davison

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