INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
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FREE EST. 1974—SEATTLE VOLUME 45, NUMBER 8 — April 18 - May 1, 2018 THE NEWSPAPER OF THE CHINATOWN INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT & ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER COMMUNITIES OF THE NORTHWEST
Speakers discuss continued relevance of Korematsu, WWII incarceration cases By Vince Schleitwiler IE Contributor
The King County Sheriff’s Office on the first floor of the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle • Photo by Chetanya Robinson
After Tommy Le shooting, new policies from Sheriff’s office
By Kelsey Hamlin IE Contributor It’s been almost a year since Tommy Le was fatally shot by two members of the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO), and the KCSO falsely told the media and Le’s family that he held a knife during the confrontation. It’s been not muchmore than 100 days since the KCSO had a change in staff. A number of Asian Pacific Islander (API) community members feel optimistic while others feel hesitant about upcoming changes under the newly elected sheriff, Mitzi Johanknecht. How does the sheriff’s department intend to avoid any future deaths like Le’s? One possible way is ammunition. In February, the KCSO received sponge rounds, or Drag Stabilized (DS) bean bag rounds, intended to neutralize someone without using regular (and more likely to be lethal) bullets. Officers began training to use these bean bag rounds at the beginning of March. The ammunition has to be paired with its own weapon in order for it to be used: “less lethal shotguns.” After much discussion with community members, the KCSO opted to avoid calling the new items “nonlethal,” unlike other departments across the country. The bean bag rounds themselves still have potential to cause significant damage, though not
death. This is one of many steps Johanknecht wants to take in the hopes of avoiding another death like Le’s. “I want the deputies to use what they’re trained in and what they think is best needed for that situation,” Johanknecht said. “There’s a big swath of [information determining the best option] that is a much more detailed conversation and some of it gets into tactics.” A report from the national nonprofit Police Assessment Resource Center advised the KCSO in 2012 to start training deputies in deescalation tactics and to use less lethal tools, like the bean bags. Now, the deputies are. They’re also receiving implicit bias training. “Since 2012, we knew we should be doing this and the leadership of the sheriff’s office, from that time forward, hadn’t done anything about it,” Johanknecht said. “So I was saying ‘that is something that I would implement.’ I would take information from that study.” And she did. Another key component of these less lethal shotguns, Johanknecht pointed out, is that unlike Tasers, they don’t require officers to get closer before firing at a person. The sheriff added that Tasers don’t work half of the time because, to be effective, they require both prongs to actually attach to a person, and have SHERIFF: Continued on page 3 . . .
Remember when the injustice of Japanese American incarceration felt like a settled question? Thirty years ago, Congress offered World War II concentration camp survivors an apology and redress payments. Thirty-five years ago, the infamous wartime conviction of Fred Korematsu for defying Executive Order 9066 was vacated by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, with similar rulings following in two other cases, involving Gordon Hirabayashi and Min Yasui. On Friday, April 13th, lawyers, students, and members of the public gathered at Seattle University to hear about these cases and their consequences from Judge Patel and other participants and leading jurists. Importantly, despite lowercourt reversals, the Supreme Court decisions in Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and Yasui were never officially overturned—even if they are widely seen, Patel noted, as a nadir of US jurisprudence. In his 1944 Korematsu dissent, Justice Robert Jackson described the majority’s deference to government assertions of military necessity as “a loaded weapon” left for future leaders to abuse.
Korematsu Coram Nobis Press Conference. • Courtesy of the family of Fred T. Korematsu
correct misconduct—the cases were reversed.
Next, Karen Korematsu—Bannai’s “sister from another mister,” she joked—shared personal stories of her father Fred’s lifetime of courage. There was that time that President Bill Clinton’s staff called. Fred was being awarded the highest honor a civilian can receive—but the invitation didn’t cover travel expenses. Tell them to mail it, Fred told his wife, it’s too expensive. They persuaded him to go, but ever since, Karen explained, “I tell young people, save your dollars if you want to go to the White House and receive the To which the current administra- Presidential Medal of Freedom!” tion appears to have responded, hold Growing up in the 1960s, Karen my drink. never heard about camp from her famAt the event, organized by Seattle ily. Then one day a Japanese American University and the Federal Bar As- classmate gave a report on the incarsociation of the Western District of ceration—and mentioned the KorematWashington, Lorraine Bannai sum- su case. Was this some black-sheep relmarized the history of the cases. ative? At home, her mother confirmed Prof. Bannai served on Koremat- it was Fred, but wouldn’t say more until su’s 1980s legal team, led by Peter he came home. “He said, it happened Irons, who—along with researcher a long time ago, that what he did was Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga—uncovered right, and the government was wrong,” proof that the government willfully Karen said, her voice catching. She saw suppressed key evidence undercut- the pain on his face, and couldn’t ask ting its claim of military necessity. any more questions. Except one: could Through a writ of error coram no- he still vote? Even then, Karen took bis—a rare legal procedure used to KOREMATSU: Continued on page 8 . . .