Gordon Hirabayashi V. United States

Gordon Hirabayashi v. United States

On December 7th, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The immediate reaction of the United States government was to enforce curfew on all people of Japanese descent, and even to go as far as force people into internment camps. Though most people of Japanese descent followed the United States government’s commands without question, Gordon Hirabayashi was one of the few that stood against this discrimination. Gordon Hirabayashi was born in Auburn, Washington in 1918 and was a part of the first generation of Japanese Americans in his family. Hirabayashi’s upbringing was heavily influenced by Christian faith and helped build his peaceful demeanor. Hirabayashi studied at Washington State University in 1937 and returned to his parents in 1940, who lived in Seattle, Washington at the time. A little over a year after his return home from college, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Once the United States government issued their orders that discriminated against people of Japanese descent, Hirabayashi worked with the American Friends Service Committee to help affected people relocate to designated areas. Hirabayashi himself refused to accept these orders, as he saw them as “unconstitutional”. Hirabayashi shares his emotions at the time

His case would eventually be taken to the Supreme Court. “His case before the Supreme Court, Hirabayashi v. United States (1943), was the first challenge to the government’s wartime curfew and expulsion of Japanese Americans. The Court ruled against him 9-0.” (Takami, Hirabayashi, Gordon K.) The Supreme Court justified the government’s relocation orders: “…by military necessity and allowable in a time of war.” (Hirabayashi, Gordon K. Hirabayashi papers, 1934-2012). Hirabayashi would go on to serve ninety days in the Tucson Federal Prison. Before his release, World War Two came to an