Attorney defended civil rights, fought against internment

It took the U.S. government nearly 50 years to recognize what Arthur Barnett knew instantly: The relocation and imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II was a mistake.

As a young Seattle attorney in the 1940s, Mr. Barnett stood next to his friend Gordon Hirabayashi the day the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Hirabayashi's conviction for defying curfews and refusing to register for internment.

"I didn't think we could win, but my biggest disappointment came when there was not one dissent by the Supreme Court. Not one," Mr. Barnett said in a 1985 interview.

In 1988, through continued efforts by Hirabayashi, Mr. Barnett and others, Congress agreed to compensate Japanese Americans who had been sent during the war to detention camps.

Mr. Barnett suffered a stroke and died Thursday (Oct. 23) at a convalescent center on Bainbridge Island. He was 96.

Remembered by friends and family as a champion of the Constitution, Mr. Barnett was one of the first civil-rights attorney in the Pacific Northwest.

His fight for the rights of Japanese Americans was only one of the issues he brought to justice.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 30, 1907, Mr. Barnett moved to Seattle with his family when he was 12. He attended the University of Washington, where he met Virginia Norwood, who would become his wife of 67 years. He earned his law degree at the UW in 1932.

After serving five years in the military, Mr. Barnett discovered the Quaker faith, following the belief that the spirit of God is in all life.

Frank Kitamoto remembers that long before he met Mr. Barnett, he'd heard about his work fighting the internment.

"There weren't too many people who did that in those days," said Kitamoto, now president of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community.

"He was a giant that needed to be recognized not only by us but by everybody," said Kitamoto, who came to know Mr. Barnett as a thoughtful, giving man.

"If you didn't know how important he was to us, you probably thought he was just a kindly old man who always had a smile on his face."

Mr. Barnett's work defending civil rights spanned many decades. He helped to grant poor citizens the right to be represented in court; he worked with local groups to offer more programs for Seattle youths; and he worked for equal-employment opportunities for African Americans.

A close friend of artist Mark Tobey, Mr. Barnett served as attorney to secure Tobey's estate for the Seattle Art Museum.

In 1983, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington presented him with the organization's William O. Douglas Award. He and Hirabayashi received the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association's Courage Award in 1993.

Mr. Barnett's personal papers are on file in the special collections section of the UW's Allen Library.

"He was one of the finest humanitarians ever to walk in the Northwest," said Gerald Elfendahl, a Bainbridge Island historian.

Mr. Barnett also found time to help raise his four children on Bainbridge Island. Molly Barnett remembers her father's tremendous sense of humor.

And he played harmonica like nobody's business, she added.

"He loved the water," his daughter said. "He'd been a Boy Scout leader and taught us all how to swim and water ski."

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Barnett is survived by his wife and sons Gordon Barnett of Colorado, John Barnett of California and Frederick Barnett of New Mexico; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Friends and family will hold a private memorial next month.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Friends Service Committee in Seattle; or the American Civil Liberties Union in Seattle.