By Randall Yip, Executive Editor

An unsung hero in the fight against the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II will finally be honored.

President Joe Biden will bestow the Presidential Citizens Medal to Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi this evening at the White House. The medal is the second highest honor a U.S. president can award a civilian.

Endo is one of four Japanese Americans to challenge the incarceration in court and the only woman to do so.

She is also the only one of the four who’s never been formally recognized by a president of the United States.

In a statement about the announcement, the White House said “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.”

David Inoue, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, is planning to attend the award ceremony.

“JACL is excited that Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi will receive the Presidential recognition she deserves and has been long overdue,” said Inoue. “The Endo case, paired with Korematsu which was wrongfully decided on the same day just over 80 years ago, demonstrates the importance of our judicial system to protect the rights of all people in the United States from the potential overreach of Presidential power.”

The Korematsu he is referring to is Fred Korematsu. His daughter, Karen Korematsu, is also in Washington, DC to attend the White House ceremony. Her father was one of the three other individuals who also took their cases to the U.S. Supreme Court. The others are Minoru Yasui and Gordon Hirabayashi.

“I know she was put under a lot of pressure to back down, but Mitsuye Endo wanted her day in court. She was very brave to continue fighting and when the government learned that the U.S. Supreme Court case was going to rule in her favor, the military announced on December 17, 1944 the Japanese American Incarceration Camps would start closing in 1945,” said Korematsu in an email to AsAmNews.  “Let it be known that Mitsuye Edo was responsible for closing the WWII Japanese American Prison Camps.”

Attorney Dale Minami joined the Endo Presidential Medal of Freedom Committee to urge Biden to honor Endo.  Peggy Nagae and Kathryn Bannai, co-chaired the campaign and Professor Cliff Sloan of Georgetown Law reinvigorated the campaign with an editorial.

“This honor is long overdue but is a powerful reminder of the dangers of unfettered Presidential power, racism and our failures to stand up for the civil rights of all Americans,” Minami told AsAmNews.

This story will be updated with information about today’s award ceremony after it takes place.

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As AsAmNews reported last year,

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