susan: our next video is actually fred korematsu about his family life and this. of time in his life, let's watch. fred: at the nursery, my parents were all around the radio listening. they were not saying very much. my mother was crying. my father was just disgusted. all that work that my parents did for the nursery. a few days later, the police came down and confiscated all of the flashlights and cameras. they confiscated everything that they thought that we would use for signaling. before the war, my parents were very proud people. they always talked about japan. also about the samurais and stuff like that. and, after pearl harbor, they just kept it to themselves. they were afraid to talk about it. i thought the exclusion order would be only for aliens. those that were born in japan. i did not think that it would go as far as to include american citizens. susan: so karen korematsu, did your grandparents go to the camps? karen: oh yes, everyone of japanese ancestry along the west coast was forced, removed from their homes. susan: but your father did not? karen: t

for that distinguished list, today we add the name of fred korematsu. [applause] susan: karen, what was the path from the supreme court to the president of the united states giving him the medal of freedom? tell us the story. karen: he was able to leave the topaz concentration camp to pursue a job opportunity. first, he went to salt lake city. he almost died of there of pneumonia. that is when he met and married my mother. they could not get married in south carolina, where she was from. they got married in detroit. susan: interracial marriage? karen: yes. susan: what about the legal side of the case? what happened? peter: this is one of the great experiences you never anticipate. back in 1981, i decided to write a book about these cases, an academic book, really. you have a copy of it, it is called "justice of war." in the research for the book, i learned about these cases in law school in my constitutional law class. we read them. everybody agreed these were terrible cases, terrible decisions. my question was how could this happen, with all these libe

dred scott, homer, fred korematsu, all weaker parties justly harmed by stronger ones who came to supreme court seeking justice inch each case the court sided with the strong and american law's tendency to favor the powerful could be one of its defining features inch the end this is most troubling thing about buck v. bell. presented the course with with a stark choice between the ideal and the opposite. the ancient principle of justice teaches the purpose of law ties ensure the strong do not harm the weekful the ueugenicsists said was the law's duty to help. the supreme court did not merely side with the strong, it enthusiastically urged them on, insisting it would be better for all the world if society's strongest members finished off people like carrie once and for all. even the babylonians in other words that helping the strong to obliterate the weak is the very opposite of justice. [applause] >> this made me feel uncoverrable but a i'm an on -- obstetrician for 40 years and have done abortions and one of the main reason he wad done abortionses was to eradicate month mongooid. and the

the decision and fred korematsu's case was a powerful symbol of the fact that we can correct our mistakes. susan: staying with the story. there was a commission created to look into the interment process. they decided to do what? karen: during the reagan administration, the redress of reparations movement started. just before my father's case was reopened. through the war relocation authority, they were reviewing how the japanese-americans were treated during the incarceration. when people in my community got wind that my father is going to reopen his case, there are people that were not in favor of that. they thought that if my father lost, korematsu vs. united states, that would hurt their chances. my father, as he said before, said he wanted to go on with this. people took risks. the legal team took a risk. so, but my father was determined to go along with this. susan: ultimately the commission found that the japanese who were interned were found to be due reparations. how much money did they get and how was it done? peter: there was an official apology issued by president reagan, who