We’re we 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.
Check back every week for a new story in July as we explore how history continues to shape life in our neighborhoods.
Incarceration
How a Supreme Court case became a lesson in who belongs in America
Korematsu v. The United States
Korematsu v. The United States Live Case Reenactment
Coming soon this fall.
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, Dale Minami, Yang Chen, Judge Denny Chin, Kathy Chin, Robert Chang, Lorriane Bannai, 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