Saturday, May 26, 2018

A Principled Stand: The Story of Hirabayashi v. United States


A Principled Stand: The Story of Hirabayashi v. United States
by Gordon Hirabayashi

As the bombs hit Pearl Harbor, the United States leadership holds Japanese Americans responsible, fearing they will turn on US Mainland.  What happens next is the tale of one individual who refuses to quietly accept the fate of being stuck in a place, yet he is unable to change his heritage as an American with ancestry from Japan.  Gordon Hirabayashi is studying at the University of Washington when he and his fellow Japanese family and friends are forced to go home and stay inside each evening at 8pm.  Gordon refuses to accept the removal of rights he had as outlined in his story:  A Principled Stand – The Story of Hirabayashi v. United States.  The story captures his life: marrying a Caucasian woman, refusing to accept discrimination, and fighting back through the courts, an effort which ultimately lands in the Supreme Court.  He is jailed for ten months and it isn’t another forty years until he has this historic case overturned in the Supreme Court.  The fear of a group of people can lead to some pretty extraordinary behaviors.  Gordon, a brilliant young man committed to peace and non-violent response, was stuck in the crossroads of “McCarthyism” at its best.  Hirabayashi’s book is a very important tale to be told so we hopefully don’t have to repeat history…but aren’t we starting to have that with our current political leaders in DC?  Pick this one up.

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