Mock Trial: Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)
The supreme court case Korematsu v. U.S. in 1944 was back during World War II when all Japanese people were forced to be moved into internment camps. Our class was given the job to recreate the trial. We all had specific roles in the case for example I was Fred Korematsu himself.
Role of a Defense Witness:
What all we had to do to be prepared for the trial.
STEP 1: Prepare your testimony
1. Read the “Biographical Information” handout on your character and complete any necessary additional research (carefully read the website links I included on the handout AND do additional research of your own).
2. Review the handout on mock trial procedures and direct/cross examination questions that is located in your folder.
3. The trial cannot move forward until you write your bio/testimony. You must do your first one by Monday, December 3rd and your second one by Wednesday, December 5th so that the attorneys can begin reviewing it and prepping you for direct and cross-examination. Type your testimony in google documents and share it with your group and the defense attorneys. Carefully review all of the materials in this folder and prepare a 2 page, double-spaced written testimony. Also, share it with me at [email protected]. Title it “NAME_DefenseWitnessTestimony”
The testimony must include the following:
Additionally, follow these guidelines when writing your testimony:
STEP 2: REQUIRED reading on historical and constitutional
1. Read the Zinn excerpt from the chapter entitled “A People’s War?” and the chapter from A Patriot’s History and as a group, discuss and respond to the questions for these readings. Turn in ONE set of responses for the entire group.
2. Individually, read and annotate the Stone chapter entitled “World War II ‘A Jap’s a Jap’”
3. Read and annotate the handouts on Civilian Exclusion Order and Executive Order 9066.
4. Complete the LIFE magazine article, “How to Tell Japs From the Chinese” reading
and activity/response.
STEP 3: Research and Preparation Related to the Trial Procedure
1. After you have turned in your testimony, the attorneys from your side will review it carefully. During the preparation periods the attorneys will meet with their witnesses to practice questioning to ensure that each witness will present a clear, logical, and memorable testimony to the judges. Rehearse both the direct examination and also the cross-examination.
2. Before and after you practice with the attorneys, you should also practice giving your testimony with the other witnesses on your side. (You are not allowed to talk to the judges or the opposing attorneys and witnesses before the trial.)
3. MEMORIZATION: You will not have your testimony in front of you during the trial, so you must memorize as much as you can about the testimony and your character.
General Tips for Being an Effective Witness
1. Read the “Biographical Information” handout on your character and complete any necessary additional research (carefully read the website links I included on the handout AND do additional research of your own).
2. Review the handout on mock trial procedures and direct/cross examination questions that is located in your folder.
3. The trial cannot move forward until you write your bio/testimony. You must do your first one by Monday, December 3rd and your second one by Wednesday, December 5th so that the attorneys can begin reviewing it and prepping you for direct and cross-examination. Type your testimony in google documents and share it with your group and the defense attorneys. Carefully review all of the materials in this folder and prepare a 2 page, double-spaced written testimony. Also, share it with me at [email protected]. Title it “NAME_DefenseWitnessTestimony”
The testimony must include the following:
- The name of your character, their age, career history, and present job
- How your character felt about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
- How your character feels about World War II
- What your character was responsible for doing when Executive Order 9066 was issued by President Roosevelt
- How your character feels about the removal of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast
- Whether your character feels that people of Japanese descent are a threat to national security
Additionally, follow these guidelines when writing your testimony:
- Write in first person.
- Include, as you see fit, facts and/or your character’s opinions regarding Fred Korematsu, his family, Japanese Americans, and/or the general Japanese American World War II experience.
- You may add and embellish where needed, including what you think might be your character’s opinions about people, places, and things.
- Use the most important parts of “Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast, 1942” (http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/dewitt1.html to help write your testimony. Do not take information word for word; instead, take general ideas and rephrase them into your own words that make sense to you and will make sense to the judges.
- It might be difficult, but even if you disagree with your character’s point of view and/or actions, you must try to get into your character’s head and be as convincing as you can for the judges. Think carefully about your testimony.
STEP 2: REQUIRED reading on historical and constitutional
1. Read the Zinn excerpt from the chapter entitled “A People’s War?” and the chapter from A Patriot’s History and as a group, discuss and respond to the questions for these readings. Turn in ONE set of responses for the entire group.
2. Individually, read and annotate the Stone chapter entitled “World War II ‘A Jap’s a Jap’”
3. Read and annotate the handouts on Civilian Exclusion Order and Executive Order 9066.
4. Complete the LIFE magazine article, “How to Tell Japs From the Chinese” reading
and activity/response.
STEP 3: Research and Preparation Related to the Trial Procedure
1. After you have turned in your testimony, the attorneys from your side will review it carefully. During the preparation periods the attorneys will meet with their witnesses to practice questioning to ensure that each witness will present a clear, logical, and memorable testimony to the judges. Rehearse both the direct examination and also the cross-examination.
2. Before and after you practice with the attorneys, you should also practice giving your testimony with the other witnesses on your side. (You are not allowed to talk to the judges or the opposing attorneys and witnesses before the trial.)
3. MEMORIZATION: You will not have your testimony in front of you during the trial, so you must memorize as much as you can about the testimony and your character.
General Tips for Being an Effective Witness
- Make sure you answer questions slowly, loudly, and with confidence. Practice in front of a mirror. Even though you should have rehearsed the questions many times, try to sound genuine, as if you’re answering them for the first time.
- Show respect for the judge and attorneys at all times. This is not a fight—it is a debate.
- If you are asked a question that you don’t know the answer to, say, “I don’t know.”
- Try to watch a television show such as Law and Order to get a sense of how courtroom procedures flow and how attorneys’ questions and objections might sound during a trial.
- On the day of the trial, you need to dress in character.
Testimony and Direct Examination
Testimony:
My name is Kabuo Miyamoto. I am 23 years old and I have gone through a lot of discrimination throughout my life. After high school when all of my friends were enlisting in the military I could not because they told me they had a order not to allow me to enlist. Soon after going to college for welding I got a job at the shipyard and soon was fired from there due to racism from my co workers. I came into work to find my time card missing and my co workers expressed that “Japs couldn’t work here”. I found a new job at a trailer mobile company and soon was fired from there again because of my race. The bombing on Pearl Harbor occured and soon the owner of the trailer mobile company said that again “Japs were not allowed”.
The evacuation order I did disobey because I was born here, in America, in the United States, and I am born and raised American so I did not believe that I should have to leave everything and everyone. It violated my constitutional rights and I felt that I didn’t need to order it. All of my family and friends were being taken away and I was all alone with my girlfriend. Seeing all of the violations of people’s properties just made me so upset. My girlfriend and I were going to move to Nevada but I was caught. To not be caught I went through the steps of having plastic surgery on my eye lids to pull off a spanish- hawaiian heritage. I threw away my California license and started my new life as Clyde Sarah, a Las Vegas born American. But soon I was caught and arrested. I was and still am not a threat to the United States for I am an American citizen.
Direct Questions from lawyer:
Where were you born?
Oakland California
Where were you parents born?
Japan
How long were you on the run?
A couple of weeks
What was this experience like for you, what emotional toll did it take?
It was very devastating having my whole family being and all of my friends being taken away and I didn’t believe that I should go because I am not a danger and I am an american citizen
tell me about america?
I love this country. This is the only country I know and care about. I was born here. I am an american
is there any doubt that you broke the law?
No I broke the law.
why did you break this law?
Because I am an American. I was born here and this order was, I felt, against my constitutional rights to become a prisoner of my own country.
My name is Kabuo Miyamoto. I am 23 years old and I have gone through a lot of discrimination throughout my life. After high school when all of my friends were enlisting in the military I could not because they told me they had a order not to allow me to enlist. Soon after going to college for welding I got a job at the shipyard and soon was fired from there due to racism from my co workers. I came into work to find my time card missing and my co workers expressed that “Japs couldn’t work here”. I found a new job at a trailer mobile company and soon was fired from there again because of my race. The bombing on Pearl Harbor occured and soon the owner of the trailer mobile company said that again “Japs were not allowed”.
The evacuation order I did disobey because I was born here, in America, in the United States, and I am born and raised American so I did not believe that I should have to leave everything and everyone. It violated my constitutional rights and I felt that I didn’t need to order it. All of my family and friends were being taken away and I was all alone with my girlfriend. Seeing all of the violations of people’s properties just made me so upset. My girlfriend and I were going to move to Nevada but I was caught. To not be caught I went through the steps of having plastic surgery on my eye lids to pull off a spanish- hawaiian heritage. I threw away my California license and started my new life as Clyde Sarah, a Las Vegas born American. But soon I was caught and arrested. I was and still am not a threat to the United States for I am an American citizen.
Direct Questions from lawyer:
Where were you born?
Oakland California
Where were you parents born?
Japan
How long were you on the run?
A couple of weeks
What was this experience like for you, what emotional toll did it take?
It was very devastating having my whole family being and all of my friends being taken away and I didn’t believe that I should go because I am not a danger and I am an american citizen
tell me about america?
I love this country. This is the only country I know and care about. I was born here. I am an american
is there any doubt that you broke the law?
No I broke the law.
why did you break this law?
Because I am an American. I was born here and this order was, I felt, against my constitutional rights to become a prisoner of my own country.
The Actual Trial
For the actual trial day we all dressed in our characters. We were to start the trial right away. During the trial there was, as it seemed, an over use of objections. Truthfully I had no idea there were so many different objections and never understood what all went into a trial. But now I do thanks to this project.