There once was a man named Fred Korematsu,
There was no aspect that made him different from you,
But one day his life changed,
As he found himself bound in chains,
That day was December 7th, 1941,
The day that the Japanese attacked and won.

Pearl Harbor was the name of the place,
And with the U.S. Navy without a trace,
Bombs were dropped on America’s paradise,
Where thousands of people fell to their demise,
But nothing beats the horror that came after,
As Americans reacted with no laughter.

The U.S. declared war against Japan,
And was willing to sacrifice the life of any man,
But for those that were Japanese on American soil,
They found their lives beginning to spoil.
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066,
With the thought that locking up Japanese Americans would do the trick.

Meanwhile the skies of San Francisco was a nice shade of blue,
But Korematsu realized that he would be locked up like the Jews,
He was sent to a horse stall to live his life,
While the United States and Japan continued their strife.
All while wondering when he would be freed,
So he committed one ambitious deed.

He brought up the issue to the Courts,
Questioning the ideas of freedom the U.S. proudly supports,
But the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Korematsu,
Continuing his fate of living like animals in a zoo,
The only crime he committed was being Japanese,
Which justified depriving him of his basic needs.

From Tule Luke to Granada to Manzanar,
These camps left the Japanese Americans with a huge scar,
Although the wound isn’t visible,
It is also irreversible,
As communities were lost and property was destroyed,
All of those that were interned had their blood boiled,

And it is no surprise that many Japanese people were mad,
Since internment caused them to lose all they had,
But they were also mad at Korematsu and his unprecedented actions,
Up to the point where they split the camp into factions,
With the Japanese against Korematsu,
He didn’t really know what to do.

Korematsu was locked up and yearned to be freed,
Until two bombs left hundreds of thousands of people to bleed,
Which ended the war between the U.S. and Japan,
And also gave freedom to this resistant man,
But this man was never done after his release,
As he still wants resolution to the madness that was unleashed.

So he decides to reopen his case,
With support from those of any race,
And with him winning his case in front of the court,
He gained many Japanese people’s support,
But the untouched Korematsu vs. the United States decision still sets a precedent,
Which could be easily abused by any president.

That simply, anyone can legally be detained,
With race being the only reason why they are chained,
But in the name of national security, anything is possible,
As one day people may be sent to places inhospitable,
Many thought it was going to happen after September 11,
As Muslims and Sikhs were thought to be terrorists if they were 85 or 7,

So today, we must remember Fred Korematsu,
As his actions provided justice once due,
To a group of people that were detained,
Under the excuse that national security needed to be maintained,
So let’s immortalize Fred Korematsu’s fight,
To bring national discriminatory practices into light.