Tribute to an unknown hero

Bravery.

It's what it takes to stand alone against the emotional mob and protest loudly that our rights are intrinsic to us as individuals. To state that the actions we've taken are so contrary to the morals we have oft proclaimed as our ideals.

Stout-heartedness

To take in stride the slings and arrows that often follow and to continue fighting without giving up the fight for what is right. To not back down from the beliefs and ideals which you believe in because they are unpopular at the time. To continue even when your family and friends don't stand by you because they think you are making trouble.

Conviction

To see things through to their completion, not only until it stops happening to you, but until such things are not happening at all. To start a tide that would demand an end and an apology and to protect against it ever happening again.

Modesty

To not boast these things later in life. To have your child only find out about your courage from a textbook rather than from your pride. To let pass over you any attention until such time that your name is only known by the people you have affected and mostly not even then.

I tribute this blog to Fred Korematsu, civil rights advocate and renegade who thought that doing right was more important to being right. It is very sad to see one of my heroes growing up pass on.

My dad's family (who is spanish/mexican and not japanese) were working on farms half the year and were affected by/witness to the effects of the internment. They saw homes get looted when families were forced to leave. They also saw neighbors protecting homes of those who had gone. Those years showed just how far we had come and how far we have fallen all in the same few years.

Obviously (or maybe not so obviously) the first thing I did once I stopped bitching about how the man was putting me down was to find out how he did it to other people. Mainly I did it so I could see if he was doing something else to me, so then I could bitch some more, though partly to find how other people fought it.

The african american fight for rights interested me up until the late 60's - early 70's. It went from people looking to make a better life for themselves to people wanting their fair share but not willing to work harder to get it. I know a few people that are still looking for that 40 acres and a mule (...not joking, they feel they're entitled to compensation). Don't get me wrong, I know it's not everyone in the struggle, but icon of the black man being put down by the white man is cliche and overused instead of looking within communities to fix the problem. It's too easy to wear the mantle of a victim and shrug off any responsibility on your part. Bill Cosby is dead on the mark with the level of his fury, though perhaps off base with his target.

However, where I really became interested was the japanese internment during WWII. Here was a small section of the population that banded together to get things done and then had the backs of their efforts broken with legislation. One person fought against it, Fred Korematsu. He fought not just because it was him that was being made to leave, but because it was the right thing to do. It was never about him, it was about the ideals we purport to uphold. People in his community turned their back on him because they thought he was making trouble. He fought on. He was convicted, he accepted punishment. When the japanese were released from the camps, he went home.

The communities silently rebuilt themselves, some seeing Fred's argument joined his cause, though he was silent after being ordered to the internment camp. By and large though the communities went on with their lives and banded together long enough to become successful. They built from within, and proved from within. For most the camps are a mark of shame and not many will talk about it. It took Fred Korematsu 40 years to talk about it. His conviction was overturned in 1983.

Fred Korematsu came back later to speak out against the patriot act, which brought him to my attention again years later. This time he took a stand against what was being done against Arab-Americans.

Everyone learns about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, (and if you go outside the american fight you have Che Guevara, Zapata, and if you're lucky you might learn about a few others), but no one hears about Korematsu and he has largely gone unrecognized by the public at large. Regardless, Fred Korematsu understood the ideals we proclaim to uphold. He stood against the rule of law, but managed to respect it at the same time. Later, he actually worked to uphold those ideals even when they stopped affecting his group and scrutiny moved to another. Respect is something I do not give lightly, and this man has earned mine. I admire Mr. Korematsu and gravely lament his passing.

Craig Castaneda