In 1942, a man named Gordon Hirabayashi was among a handful of U.S. Citizens of Japanese Ancestry to refuse to evacuate his home in Seattle to be herded into an internment camp.  For that “crime” he served one year in prison, and was not exonerated until four decades later by the U.S. Supreme Court, which finally acknowledged that the mass evacuation of and internment of Japanese Americans had been based wholly on prejudice and was without justification.

“This order for the mass evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent denies them the right to live,” Hirabayashi wrote. “I consider it my duty to maintain the democratic standards for which this nation lives. Therefore, I must refuse this order of evacuation.”  Powerful words, from a very brave and honorable American.  He represented the best of our nation, and his passing is a sad day for us all.

When I was a teenager, I once confronted my own father for not having stood up to the internment, even though in retrospect it now seems incredible that anyone would have defied the U.S. Army, which arrived at our homes and forced us from them at gunpoint.  For his courage, we celebrate the life and legacy of Gordon Hirabayashi.  It is for people like him that I am committed to telling the story of the internment, so that we might never forget.

–GHT