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We’re honoring legal milestones, confronting painful precedents and inviting underrepresented communities to reflect on what justice, belonging and democracy should look like in the next 250 years.
Belonging is the heartbeat of democracy. Without a sense of inclusion in America’s story, citizenship is hollow. Our project, “Decisions That Defined Us: 250 Years of Belonging and Exclusion in America,” uses landmark California court cases to explore who has been included in, and excluded from, the promise of America and how communities today can write the next chapter of that story.
Incarceration
How a Supreme Court case became a lesson in who belongs in America
Korematsu v. The United States
Alien Land Laws
When a Japanese American family fought for their California farm — and won
Oyama v. California
Homelessness
LA used to jail people for sleeping on the street. A court case changed the city’s lens on homelessness
Jones v. City of Los Angeles
Segregation
They fought for their children’s education and opened the door for generations of students
Mendez v. Westminster
Korematsu v. The United States Live Case Reenactment
Coming soon this fall.
With grateful acknowledgment to AABANY for use of the script.
Credits
Project Lead: Leezel Tanglao
Project Editor: Claudia Koerner
Writers: Leezel Tanglao, Drusilla Moorhouse
Illustrator: Annelise Capossela
Visuals: Fred Korematsu photos Courtesy of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute®, Associated Press file photos, Shutterstock, Wikimedia
Special Thanks: American Journalism Project, Will Schick, Dr. Karen Korematsu of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, Asian American Bar Association of New York, Japanese American National Museum, Dale Minami, Yang Chen, Judge Denny Chin, Kathy Chin, Robert Chang, Lorriane Bannai, Ann Burroughs, Jim Herr, Chris Kwok, Mark Calaguas, Michele Siqueiros, Kristen Muller, Raisa Zaidi, Steve Saldivar, Kayhan Azadi, Mayra Sandoval and Xavier Vargas.
Published as part of a national effort by local newsrooms to reflect on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. You can see coverage from other newsrooms by clicking here.