Former U of A Prof an American Hero

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Gordon Hirabayashi, a former sociology prof and chair at the University of Alberta.

Professor Hirabayashi was one of three Japanese Americans to defy internment during WWII.  At the time, his curfew conviction was upheld by the US Supreme Court.  More than four decades later, the matter was again reviewed by a US federal appeals court and the conviction overturned.

His compelling story is told in Peter Irons' Courage of Their Convictions.  I used this for a course I taught a few years ago in tandem with ann early Ronald Dworkin piece that argued that civil obedience is justified when one truly believes that constitutionally enshrined values have been violated, notwithstanding what any court, not even the highest court, may say.  Professor Hirabayashi's experience was, and is, a perfect exemplar for this argument and ideal.

The U of A should do something to commemorate his accomplishment if it has not done so already. He was, as his son says, an American hero.