Temple Sinai’s Social Action Committee and Pacifica Institute/East Bay are sponsoring a Potluck Community Brunch on Sunday, April 9th to explore how Fred T. Korematsu’s legacy can help inspire Jews and Muslims in working together to keep America from repeating a shameful chapter of its history.
Members of Temple Sinai, and the Pacifica Institute and other interested Jews and Muslims will meet in small groups to discuss lessons learned from the Japanese American internment in 1942 and to plan joint actions to help avoid the mistakes of the past.
Our special guest will be Karen Korematsu, daughter of legendary civil rights champion Fred Korematsu and Founder/Executive Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute.
Oakland-born Fred Korematsu was the national civil rights champion who fought the injustices of Executive Order 9066 and its forced removal and mass incarceration of Japanese Americans. In 1942, at the age of 23, Korematsu was arrested and convicted for refusing to go to a government camp. He appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled against him. On November 10, 1983, Korematsu’s conviction was overturned in a federal court in San Francisco. In 1998, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Clinton. Fred Korematsu Day is officially celebrated every January 30th .
Since her father’s passing in 2005, Karen has carried on his legacy as a civil rights advocate, public speaker and educator. She has been a vocal advocate at the local and national level in defense of American Muslims who are being unfairly targeted by hate and ill-advised public policy. Karen was presented with the Voice of Freedom Award at the 2016 Muslim Advocates Annual Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Please RSVP here