Interviews
Racial discrimination prepared her in becoming the first transgender trial lawyer
I mean, I kind of look at Japanese American legacy and heritage as I'm really lucky. Those challenges that were put front of me were almost perfect in terms of sequence. If I was going to represent a community of Japanese American lawyers a generation of us really, I would take whatever came from that and I would use that experience to be the first transgender trial lawyer. That's a lot more lonelier position as there’s nobody else like that anyways so I guess in a way I look back on it because I sometimes do nowadays. It's almost like being hated because I was Japanese American, in the wake of the war and all of that and being discriminated against my whole career starting at the beginning was a perfect prelude being hated because I was trans they've got me ready for it in way that that's probably much more calm and deliberate because I sort of experienced that, and I was able to live in my own shoes and that incarnation. And respond to it in that way.
Date: July 14, 2020
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Matthew Saito
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association
Explore More Videos
Gender discrimination in education field
(1925 - 2018) Nisei educator from Hawai‘i
Not coming out at work until 1991
(b. 1957) Jusice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii.
First impression of New York City during war time
(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement
Not bringing shame to family
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Past ties to present situation in Middle East
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Didn't have rights that whites had
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Californians didn't know about evacuation
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Her experience as a Japanese-American schoolchild in Oceanside, California, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor
(1924-2018) Artist and playwright.
Change in attitudes after World War II
(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i
Thoughts on the post-9/11 atmosphere in the U.S.
(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.
Dealing with racism within army unit in Korea
(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor
Making the decision to resist the draft
(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.
Undergraduate studies interrupted following Pearl Harbor
(b. 1921) Nisei businessman. Established "Made in Oregon" retail stores
Difficulty getting work during World War II
(b. 1921) Nisei businessman. Established "Made in Oregon" retail stores
