My folks were so worried about what they were going to do. All they can take was what they could carry with their hands. What they had for twenty-five years of building their business was going to go out the door, or they're going to lose it.
— Fred Korematsu
That was it - I lost my job... I was very discouraged. I wanted to be in defense work... I'm an American, and I have nothin' to do with Japan, and so it's sort of an insult to me.
I was born in the U.S. This is my country.
I was very upset because I did not have a fair trial to prove my loyalty to this country.
I don't even know how it is to have a home. I feel like an orphan or something.
I didn't think that the government would go as far as to include American citizens to be interned without a hearing.
Every day in school, we said the pledge to the flag, 'with liberty and justice for all,' and I believed all that.
All of them turned their backs on me at that time because they thought I was a troublemaker.
If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up.
During the curfew, whoever went out, the people were watching you. Any Japanese home, there was some person figuring he's a good American citizen by doing his duty, and they were watching every move each family were doin'. Or if they went out, they followed them to see where they were goin'.
I'm Asian, so they assumed I'm not an American and that I come from Japan. Restaurants would refuse to serve me, and places would refuse to give you a haircut.
It takes a lot of money to hire an attorney.
I lost everything when they put us in prison. I was an enemy alien, a man without a country.
As a citizen of the United States, I am ready, willing, and able to bear arms for this country.
As long as my record stands in federal court, any American citizen can be held in prison or concentration camps without a trial or a hearing.
One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years.
I was just living my life, and that's what I wanted to do.
Before the war, my parents were very proud people. They'd always talk about Japan and also about the samurai and things like that. Right after Pearl Harbor, they were just real quiet. They kept to themselves; they were afraid to talk about what could happen. I assume they knew that nothing good would come out of it.
I was the third son, and the family tradition was my dad always favored the oldest child.
I was really upset because I was branded as an enemy alien when I'm an American.
I still remember, 40 years ago, when I was shackled and put in prison... Being an American citizen didn't mean a thing.
If anyone should do any pardoning. I should be the one pardoning the government for what they did to the Japanese-American people.
I was an American citizen, and I had as many rights as anyone else.
I thought what the military was doing was unconstitutional.
It may take time to prove you're right, but you have to stick to it.
