This concept is largely assimilated with what we call “identity.” I believe identity is the shared kinship that we as human beings have an innate tendency to experience – though whatever group of people we choose to identify ourselves with in a personal choice. I myself identify myself as an American, a Pakistani, and, of course, a Muslim. Perhaps stereotyping has something to do with personal choice regarding identity – a youth who is inclined towards dressing in darker colors maybe be stereotyped with a group of people known as “goths,” and as such he may eventually begin to identify himself as a goth. Stereotyping is, of course, not exactly something to be favored, but at the same time, that sense of identity it may lend to that now-goth youth is very important. People need identity. I need identity. I identify myself with tons of groups, like a thousand ever-shrinking circles, beginning with all the other inhabitants of Planet Earth, and then going on to humankind, and on and on until I am left with my school, my family, my brother and I. And at the same time, these circles, little pinpoints on the map of the Earth to which I feel a specific loyalty, overlap greatly.

I guess I learnt that identity is far more complicated than I could have guessed.

Oh, and another crucial tidbit I acquired at the Day of Remembrance – what Japanese Americans had to go through during WWII was horrible, and I really don’t want any other minority/ethnic or religious group to have to do through anything like that in the U.S. It pretty much violated everything that the United States apparently stood for – most notably, the idea of tolerance that America was built on. And I especially don’t want a group that I myself identify closely with – Muslims – to have to go through anything like that because of the 9/11 attacks or the mangled “war of terrorism.” And so remembering the consequences, the quelled dreams and halted lives of the Japanese Americans of WWII, is terribly important, more so now than ever. History doesn’t always have to repeat itself, I don’t think.

Korematsu’s case is significant to me because it represents all the overturned minorities, whom are so easy to hate and ridicule and exclude. It gives you a feeling of superiority to treat a group of outsiders with derision and contempt. It makes you feel better than them. And maybe, yes, I’d say everyone is somewhat prejudiced. Don’t say you’re not – we all are. It’s a fundamental part of identity – to enclose oneself in a certain group whilst shutting out another. But real, hateful, blinding prejudice, the one that justifies wars and humiliation, is inexcusable, whether it be aimed at myself or not.

The Korematsu case’s being overturned is definitely still very important today. It represents the voices of the minority, whether said minority be ethnic, religious, etc etc.