Fred T. Korematsu, who lost a Supreme Court challenge in 1944 to the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans but gained vindication decades later when he was given the Medal of Freedom, died on Wednesday in Larkspur, Calif. Mr. Korematsu, who lived in San Leandro, Calif., was 86.
The cause was a respiratory ailment, said Don Tamaki, a lawyer for Mr. Korematsu.
When he was arrested in 1942 for failing to report to an internment center, Mr. Korematsu was working as a welder and simply hoping to be left alone so he could pursue his marriage plans. He became a central figure in the controversy over the wartime removal of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants from the West Coast to inland detention centers. He emerged as a symbol of resistance to government authority.
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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/printer_040105O.shtml http://www.asianlawcaucus.org/Feature%20Articles/overturning.htm http://www.today.ucla.edu/1999/991012internees.html http://www.dailybruin.com/db/archivedarticles.asp?ID=2032&date=11/17/2000 http://reclaimdemocracy.org/civil_rights/korematsu_guantanamo.html http://www.farfilm.com/films/ub/ub.htm http://www.salon.com/opinion/freedom/2004/06/29/korematsu/