WHEN THE ATHENIANS FINALLY WANTED NOT TO GIVE TO SOCIETY BUT FOR SOCIETY TO GIVE TO THEM, WHEN THE FREEDOM THEY WISHED FOR MOST WAS FREEDOM FROM RESPONSIBILITY THEN ATHENS CEASED TO BE FREE AND WAS NEVER FREE AGAIN.” THEY WANTED A COMFORTABLE LIFE, AND THEY LOST IT ALL-SECURITY, COMFORT, AND FREEDOM. “IN THE END, MORE THAN FREEDOM, THEY WANTED SECURITY. WHEN YOU AWAKEN EACH MORNING, BE HAUNTED BY EDWARD GIBBONS’ EPITAPH ON ATHENS: GORDON HIRABAYASHI WAS RIGHT AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 24: “IT IS OUR OBLIGATION TO SHOW FORTH OUR LIGHT IN TIMES OF DARKNESS, NAY, OUR PRIVILEGE.” IT IS FOR US, THE LIVING, TO ENSURE THAT THEIR COURAGE WAS NOT IN VAIN. WE CANNOT ESCAPE OUR MORAL RESPONSIBILITY AS AMERICAN CITIZENS TO EQUAL OR BETTER THE INSTRUCTION OF AMERICAN PATRIOTS KOREMATSU, HIRABAYASHI, YAUSI, AND ENDO. TYRANNY KNOWS ONLY OFFENSE-LIKE A FOOTBALL TEAM WITH TOM BRADY PLAYING ALL POSITIONS. HAWAII.ĭEFENDING LIBERTY IS ALWAYS UNFINISHED WORK. AND THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT OVERRULED KOREMATSU IN TRUMP V. THE CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT OF 1988 DENOUNCED THE RACISM AND UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF E0 9066. KOREMATSU AND HIRAYABAHSI HAD THEIR CONVICTIONS OVERTURNED IN CORAM NOBIS PROCEEDINGS. IN TRIUMPH, OUR DEFENDER OF LIBERTY AWARD HONOREES BRANDISHED THE LOFTY PRINCIPLES OF THE GREATEST GENERATION-THE CONSTITUTION’S ARCHITECTS-AGAINST ITS TRAITORS. THEY CONTINUED TO FIGHT OVER LONG DECADES FOR VINDICATION AND DEFENSE OF THE CONSTITUTION BOTH FOR THE LIVING AND THOSE YET TO BE BORN. UNITED STATES WOULD LIE AROUND LIKE A LOADED WEAPON READY FOR USE BY A FUTURE CALIGULA, CLAUDIUS, OR NERO IN THE WHITE HOUSE WHO CLAIMED AN URGENT NEED.īUT THE FOUR DID NOT SURRENDER. DISSENTING JUSTICE ROBERT JACKSON PRESCIENTLY WARNED THAT THE COURT’S DECISION IN KOREMATSU V. THE HIGH COURT SUSTAINED FDR’S EXECUTIVE ORDER BASED ON KNOWING LIES ABOUT MILITARY NECESSITY MADE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. KOREMATSU, HIRABAYASHI, YASUI, AND ENDO TOOK THEIR CASES TO THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT WITH MIXED SUCCESS. THE PRESIDENT AND HIS MANDARIN CLASS COLLEAGUES ECHOED THE ORWELLIAN BUGLE OF GENERAL JOHN DEWITT 80 DAYS AFTER PEARL HARBOR: “THE VERY FACT THAT NO SABOTAGE HAS TAKEN PLACE TO DATE IS A DISTURBING AND CONFIRMING INDICATION THAT SUCH ACTION WILL BE TAKEN.” I AM REMINDED OF MARK ANTHONY’S MOCKING FUNERAL ORATION IN JULIUS CEASAR: BUT PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT WAS AN HONORABLE MAN, SO WERE HIS ASSISTANTS ALL HONORABLE MEN. RISKING OSTRACISM OR WORSE, OUR FOUR AWARD WINNERS CHALLENGED THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S RACISM. ROOSEVELT’S CAMPS WERE TEN: MANZANAR (CA), POSTON (AZ), GILA RIVER (AZ), TOPAZ (UT), GRANADA (CO), HEART MOUNTAIN (WY), MINIDOKA (ID), TULE LAKE (CA), JEROME, (AR), AND ROHWER (AR). FOR THEY ARE FIRST COUSINS OF BERGEN-BELSON, BUCHENWALD, DACHAU, AND SACHSENHAUSEN, NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS, NOT EXTERMINATION CAMPS LIKE AUSCHWITZ. PROVOKED BY RACISM IN THEN WEST COAST BATTLEGROUND STATES, EO 9066 SUMMARILY DISPATCHED 120,000 INNOCENT JAPANESE AMERICANS BECAUSE OF THEIR ANCESTRY ALONE INTO INTERNMENT CAMPS. OUR DEFENDER OF LIBERTY AWARD RECIPIENTS RESISTED THE RACIST TYRANNY OF PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 ISSUED UNILATERALLY WITHOUT CONGRESS ON FEBRUARY 19, 1942, A DATE THAT SHOULD LIVE IN INFAMY. WHAT IS MORE AMERICAN THAN FIDELITY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON’S INJUNCTION THAT RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD? IT CAN BE SAID WITHOUT EXAGGERATION, SELDOM IN THE ANNALS OF LIBERTY HAVE SO MANY OWED SO MUCH TO SO FEW. THEY ARE LARGELY UNKNOWN AMERICAN HEROES AND HEROINES OF WORLD WAR II. AND WE HAVE THE MOUNT RUSHMORE OF MORAL COURAGE TO HONOR THIS EVENING: FRED KOREMATSU, GORDON HIRABAYAHSI, MINORU YASUI, AND MITSUYE ENDO.
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