Center for Asian American Media

On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.The following day, the US declared war on Japan.

Two months later, despite the government's own evidence that Japanese Americans posed no military threat, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal and incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans. Two-thirds were American citizens. Over half were children.

This highly acclaimed film tells the story of three Japanese Americans, Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui, who refused to be interned and were imprisoned for violating Executive Order 9066. They challenged the constitutionality of the internment in their individual cases: Hirabayashi v. United States (1943), Yasui v. United States (1943), and Korematsu v. United States (1944). Hirabayashi and Yasui’s convictions for curfew violations were upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court. Korematsu’s conviction for violating exclusion laws was also upheld by the Supreme Court. AN UNFINISHED BUSINESS follows these three men as they reopen their cases and fight to overturn their convictions, 40 years later.

“…more than a deeply moving film… [UNFINISHED BUSINESS] is a powerful warning that hysteria, bigotry, ignorance and moral cowardice demean us all.”

- Studs Terkel

Awards
CINE Golden Eagle
Best Feature Documentary, Academy Award Nomination

Recognition
National PBS Broadcast

College/Institution

K-12/Public Library/Community Group