Interviews

1. Where did the Name Gidra Originate

2. Struggle and Activism

3. Gidra's Editorial Process

4. Gidra - Community Newspaper

5. Gidra Collaborations

6. Common Cause

7. Gidra's Contributors

8. Gidra's Content

9. Content Conflict

10. Camp Experiences

11. Cincip

12. Staff and Struggles

Community activist

Where did the Name Gidra Originate

When we got together to discuss a name, we, we entertained a lot of different kinds of names, but one thing that all of us agreed was we wanted something, a name, that we could build our own reputation, our own image, our own vision around, and so something that was very original. Okay? So it’s actually kind of a made up name, but also, Tracy, one of our original members, had suggested - And he kinda misremembered this story but from a Japanese Science fiction, he thought Gidra¹ was a monster who saved the people of Japan. Which turned out not to be the case but...So we picked the name Gidra, it’s not spelled the same way, G-I-D-R-A in our case, and... So, there would be no preconceptions, no prior, you know, association with the name.

_{* 1. King Ghidorah: A fictional evil, golden, three-headed dragon that destroys Japan (Godzilla's nemesis)}

identity

Date: September 29, 2011

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Kris Kuromitsu, John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Mike Murase--attorney, activist, administrator, writer and photographer--has been involved in human services, social change, education, government and politics for over 40 years. As an undergraduate at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), he was a co-founder of the Asian American Studies Center and later taught ethnic studies at UCLA, University of Southern California and California State University at Long Beach.

Mike’s roots in the Asian American communities are deep. He was a part of the core group who founded Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), a social service and community economic development agency serving Little Tokyo and greater Japanese American community throughout Los Angeles. Mike served as the board president for first 5 years. He also advocated for members of Japanese Welfare Rights Organization, Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization and National Coalition for Redress & Reparations (NCRR), and authored Little Tokyo: One Hundred Year History.

In 2006, Mike returned to LTSC to join its management team and currently is Director of Service Programs. (August 2012)