Social activist. In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, thousands of law-abiding Japanese Americans, were forced to relocate to internment camps throughout the United States. Emi, who operated a grocery in downtown Los Angeles, had to abandon his business as well as most of his personal possessions to reside in the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. At first he accepted his assignment, albeit reluctantly. However, when the federal government decided to reinstate the draft in early 1944 to Japanese American men in the camps, Emi joined six other internees at Heart Mountain to protest the order. This resulted in the formation of the Fair Play Committee, the only organized draft resistance in the camps. The Committee encouraged internees to refuse military service until their constitutional rights as U.S. citizens were restored. Their protests resulted in the imprisonment of 300 men from ten camps for draft evasion. The seven leaders of the Fair Play Committee were convicted of conspiracy to violate the Selective Service Act. Emi, who was exempt from the draft because he was married with children, served 18 months at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. In December 1945, a federal appeals court overturned the convictions of the leaders. However, the Japanese American Citizens League, the community's leading civil rights organization, had called for the protesters to be charged with sedition. Their official stance would remain unchanged until they offered the protesters a formal apology in 2000.
Social activist. In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, thousands of law-abiding Japanese Americans, were forced to relocate to internment camps throughout the United States. Emi, who operated a grocery in downtown Los Angeles, had to abandon his business as well as most of his personal possessions to reside in the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. At first he accepted his assignment, albeit reluctantly. However, when the federal government decided to reinstate the draft in early 1944 to Japanese American men in the camps, Emi joined six other internees at Heart Mountain to protest the order. This resulted in the formation of the Fair Play Committee, the only organized draft resistance in the camps. The Committee encouraged internees to refuse military service until their constitutional rights as U.S. citizens were restored. Their protests resulted in the imprisonment of 300 men from ten camps for draft evasion. The seven leaders of the Fair Play Committee were convicted of conspiracy to violate the Selective Service Act. Emi, who was exempt from the draft because he was married with children, served 18 months at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. In December 1945, a federal appeals court overturned the convictions of the leaders. However, the Japanese American Citizens League, the community's leading civil rights organization, had called for the protesters to be charged with sedition. Their official stance would remain unchanged until they offered the protesters a formal apology in 2000.
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