JACL hails the announcement; organization backed her Supreme Court case in 1944.
By P.C. Staff
WASHINGTON — The White House announced that the late Mitsuye Endo Tstutsumi was among the 20 individuals who received the Presidential Citizens Medal on Jan. 2. Accepting the medal on behalf of his mother was Wayne Tsutsumi.
The Presidential Citizens Medal is given out to those “who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”
Wayne Tsutsumi accepts the Presidential Citizens Medal on behalf of his late mother, Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, from President Biden at the White House on Jan. 2
In its statement, the White House gave the following reason for the selection of Tsutsumi, née Endo: “In a shameful chapter in our Nation’s history, Mitsuye Endo was incarcerated alongside more than 120,000 Japanese Americans. Undaunted, she challenged the injustice and reached the Supreme Court. Her resolve allowed thousands of Japanese Americans to return home and rebuild their lives, reminding us that we are a Nation that stands for freedom for all.”
The Supreme Court case Ex parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283 (1944) was one of four Supreme Court cases filed by Japanese Americans during World War II, when ethnic Japanese living along the West Coast of the United States, the majority of whom were American citizens, were rounded up, removed from their homes and incarcerated en masse in 10 government-operated concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority.
Endo’s case was the sole SCOTUS case among the four that resulted in a legal victory. According to the Densho Encyclopedia, “ … the United States Supreme Court held unanimously that the federal government could not confine indefinitely U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who were ‘concededly loyal’ in War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps. … News of the Supreme Court’s ruling led the U.S. War Department, with the consent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to announce the lifting of Japanese American exclusion from the West Coast, and thereby made possible the winding down of the WRA camps.”
In a statement, the Japanese American Citizens League said: “As it was with JACL’s urging that Endo brought forth her case, we have long advocated for presidential recognition of Endo for her actions, including passing a national council resolution in 2014. We thank President Biden for acknowledging and recognizing such a monumental case and the woman behind it all.”
The 19 others receiving the medal are Mary L. Bonauto, Bill Bradley, Frank K. Butler Jr., Elizabeth L. Cheney, Christopher J. Dodd, Diane Carlson Evans, Joseph L. Galloway, Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Ted Kaufman, Carolyn McCarthy, Louis Lorenzo Redding, Bobby Sager, Collins J. Seitz, Eleanor Smeal, Bennie G. Thompson, Thomas J. Vallely, Frances M. Visco, Paula S. Wallace and Evan Wolfson.
The JACL’s statement may be read here.
