“The power of the Universal Declaration is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality, and dignity.” – Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

December 10 is Human Rights Day is observed by the international community to commemorate the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Although the Declaration is not a binding document, it is considered an international standard of basic human rights. In 2009, the Fred T. Korematsu Institute was founded as a local community and education program to honor Fred Korematsu’s legacy and has evolved into a national organization that inspires students and the public through Fred Korematsu’s story. Our overarching vision is to uphold all human and civil rights by inspiring people to “stand up for what is right.” 

We recognize that when anyone’s human rights are denied, everyone’s rights are undermined. While the Fred T. Korematsu Institute promotes the importance of remembering one of the most blatant forms of racial profiling in U.S. history, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II through Fred Korematsu’s story, there are many other stories we share from the displacement and decimation of entire American Indian tribal communities to the Muslim ban of 2016 to voter suppression efforts. In all of our work, we highlight that bridge of the Fred Korematsu story with various topics in history, including other civil rights heroes and movements, World War II, the Constitution, global environmental and human rights, and Asian American history. We make connections to present-day racism, civil rights discrimination, and political scapegoating, such as mass incarceration, anti-immigrant sentiment, and xenophobia.

Civil liberties and civic education are vital today, and one way to prevent us from repeating the mistakes of our past is to teach students and the public about our intersecting cultures and shared history and to encourage participation in our democracy to promote equality and ensure our basic rights are secured. We have so much work to do, but the first step is to honor all of our communities and gain a greater understanding of each other and our interconnected past so that we can work together to advance racial equity, social justice, and human rights for all.

You can read or listen to the entire Declaration here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/universal-declaration-of-human-rights