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https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1789/

Standing up for social justice

If you are not indignant about what's going on out there, you got a problem. More than that, you are the problem. You know, I get on talking with people sometimes and I always like to say that complacency, is complicity. And apathy enables our enemies. There's a lot of different ways to say it. But I believe that we can't sit silent and not say something, we can’t stay where we are when there's a march outside our window. We can't stay silent in opportunities like this. We know that whatever we're saying right now will be viewed by other people and we should be judged by what we say. So I have no problem with that, but I do have a problem with people that don't see anything wrong. I do have a problem with that because that just enables injustice, it absolutely allows it to continue. The status quo has to be challenged. It has to be opposed. It has to be changed. It just doesn't happen from an armchair. You know, I am active because I believe it's my duty. I am an educated privileged Asian American, Japanese American, who has reaped the benefits of this society, of the American education system.


activism communities equality justice law social action social justice

Date: July 14, 2020

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Matthew Saito

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association

Interviewee Bio

Mia Yamamoto is a Sansei transgender attorney and civil rights activist. She was born in the Poston concentration camp in Arizona in 1943 where her parents were incarcerated. She joined the Army and served in the Vietnam War. Inspired by her father's courage to speak out against the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, she attended the University of California Los Angeles's School of Law and has been a leader in the field of social justice, including working with the Japanese American Bar Association. (March 2021)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.

George Ariyoshi
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George Ariyoshi

Ethnic diversity

(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i

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James Hirabayashi
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James Hirabayashi

Christian gatherings in homes

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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James Hirabayashi
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James Hirabayashi

Not bringing shame to family

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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James Hirabayashi
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James Hirabayashi

Role of the Japanese American National Museum

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Joining the movement

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

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Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Peggie Nishimura Bain

Learning American cooking

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Roger Shimomura
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Roger Shimomura

Japanese American community life

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Kimi Wakabayashi
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Kimi Wakabayashi

Her early life in Canada

(b.1912) Japanese Canadian Issei. Immigrated with husband to Canada in 1931

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George Azumano
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George Azumano

Downtown in Portland, Oregon

(b. 1918) Founder Azumano Travel

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Kip Fulbeck
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Kip Fulbeck

Lessons learned from The Hapa Project

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

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Alfredo Kato
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Alfredo Kato

Peru Shimpo for the Nikkei community (Spanish)

(b. 1937) Professional journalist

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Bill Hashizume
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Bill Hashizume

Japanese community in Mission

(b. 1922) Canadian Nisei who was unable to return to Canada from Japan until 1952

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PJ Hirabayashi
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PJ Hirabayashi

Taiko as self-expression

Co-founder and creative director of San Jose Taiko

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PJ Hirabayashi
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PJ Hirabayashi

A “principally-based” taiko group in England creating a global taiko community

Co-founder and creative director of San Jose Taiko

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Byron Glaser
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Byron Glaser

Growing up in a Japanese American community

Illustrator and designer

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