Gordon Hirabayashi: The Constitution Protects Us

Gordon Hirabayashi

On Saturday, April 5, 2014, I attended a presentation hosted by the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California and the Torrance Public Library:

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

This title references a new book written about Gordon Hirabayashi, who was a conscientious objector against the federal government during World War II, when Japanese-Americans had to submit to targeted curfew laws, and then faced internment in camps away from the West Coast.

The flyer for the event provided the following information:

1n 1943, Gordon Hirabayashi was convicted and imprisoned for defying the curfew and mass removal of Japanese Americans on the West Coast. Drawing from his unpublished letters and diaries, Gordon's brother JHmaes and nephew Lane use Gordon's own words from this period to detail the events of Hirabayashi v. United States, the Supreme Court case that in 1943 upheld and on appeal in 1987 vacated his conviction.

A humiliating chapter in modern American history, the US government offered reparations to Japanese-Americans forced away from their homes and property during that period. I have to add this part — it was a Democratic President who issued Executive Order 9066 forcing the mass evacuation of Japanese Americans from their homes to internment camps.

Nearly a full auditorium greeted the hosts.

An actor, Johnny Kwon, reenacted a sketch about Gordon during his college days. Playing multiple parts, Kwon mostly acted as Gordon, but also presented Gordon's mother and college friends in a one-man show. .

This phrase stood out to me, which the actor Johnny Kwon delivered early:

The Constitution is supposed to protect us.

Indeed. Gordon believed that the United States Constitution provided guarantees to all Americans, and refused to comply with a law contrary to it.

Lane Ryo Hirabayashi

Following Kwon's short dramatic sketch, Gordon's nephew, Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, gave a lecture on who Hirabayashi was, his family as well as ethnic background, and how they influenced Gordon's decision to resist this government tyranny. Writing this book with his father, one of Gordon's brothers, Lane had access to reams of private journals and documents recording Gordon's struggles within and without when he took the stance to refuse obeying the curfew.

 Lane shared a number of things about the Japanese Internment which I was not aware of, like the fact that while indeed Germans and Italians were interned, they were not subject to the forced curfew. The sense of shame which afflicted many Japanese after the interment lingered for a long time, too, such that many of them did not want to talk about it until  decades afterward.

From one of Gordon's letters, Lane read the following:

I was always able to hold my head up high because I wasn't just objecting and saying "No!" but was saying "Yes!" to a prior principle, the highest of principles."

Such ardor and commitment describes the reason why Americans protest the federal government, as well as state and local authorities today, although I do not want to diminish the unconstitutional measure of targeting one ethnic group for curfew.

In 1944, Gordon refused to sign a loyalty oath. Later, Hirabayashi served prison time for refusing to fight in World War II, yet ironically enough the prison site is now a recreation site today.

Lane argued about three elements which contributed to forming Hirabayashi to resist the government. The first was his family background. Suprisinglyt to me, Christian missionaries had not only made inroads into Japan, but a number of clans converted to Christianity, including the Hirabayashi family. A denomination related to the Quaker faith, which diminished the role of an established church but stressed peace and a pacifism, Gordon's parents moved to the United States and settled in Washington State.

As far as community influences are concerned, Gordon was raised in the YMCA, with a formal academic training.

The influence which impressed Lane the most, though, was the spiritual aspect, although I am not surprised. Obedience and conformity experiments in the 1960s suggested that when individuals have established an allegiance to a higher authority, they do not readily submit to committing criminal; or abusive acts when directed to do so by a human authority figure in front of them.

How true that was for Gordon Hirabayashi. His believe in God carried him through, even though his decision to break the curfew laws upset his mother, and her protests caused him the most pain.

Other elements about this dissenter's story included his own shock that most Japanese did not resist the government order as  he did. He found himself alone in jail.

Where is everyone else? Gordon asked himself.

Later on, a lawyer of the same religious background came to his aid, helping him with his case. Ultimately, one court after another affirmed the law and Gordon's convictions. Four decades later, the Supreme Court would vacate the conviction, but did not recognize the unconstitutional law.

The presentation was really good. I am glad that I had a chance to attend the forum, as I was aware of these meetings in the past, but never had an opportunity to visit them.

Then I recalled the statement which had stood out earlier in the presentation:

The Constitution is supposed to protect us.

I then began to wonder what Gordon would have been doing during our times, as this country witnesses a President whose administration has presided over one scandal after another, where political groups have been targeted by the Internal Revenue Service just because of their selected political and cultural views. Businesses must violate religious tenets which they hold dear in order to comply with certain federal laws. Diplomats who sought security received none, then died in a terrorist attack. The current administration has broadened the NSA domestic spying program into the lives of almost every American, and even Democratic Senators like Dianne Feinstein are faulting the CIA for spying on their computers.

The same President who promised to uphold the United States Constitution and faithfully execute the laws of the land has done neither, rewriting his own legislation and disregarding prior legislative requirements.

Now, in no way do I want to suggest that the current Presidency has perpetrated anything comparable to what Japanese-Americans endured in the 1940s.

But the blatant disregard of our rights and the US Constitution should alarm us. And isn't it interesting that a Democratic President with executive orders perpetrated such unconstitutional acts then, and today another Democratic President is resorting to one executive order after another, contrary to the United States Constitution, a charter on which every American expects protection from the federal government.

I wasn't just objecting and saying "No!" but was saying "Yes!" to a prior principle, the highest of principles."

The modern scenario made me wonder: What would Gordon do during this time?

Let's hope that Americans today will follow Gordon's example and stand not just on prior principles, but the highest of principles, which recognize that our rights are God-given, not government-granted. Instead of standing alone, let us hope that Americans will stand together and demand that this administration answer for the scandals up scandals which have dishonored the Constitution, disregarded our rights, and distanced our allies abroad.