Interviews

1. Incarceration, Deportation, and Lawyers

2. On Challenging Institutions

3. Proud to be Japanese Americans

4. The White House Will Have to Wait

5. Nikkei Pioneers in the Legal Field

6. “…Put Me In A Cage”

7. Preserving Manzanar-Chutzpah and the DWP

8. Rising Up To A Challenge

9. Congressional Hearings

10. “A Low Tolerance For Injustice…”

11. Pop and Balls

12. Fifty Years and Going Strong

13. Message to Aspiring Japanese American Lawyers

Rose Ochi

(1938-2020) Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist

The White House Will Have to Wait

One of the first major appointments I received, it was from President Jimmy Carter. They created an immigration commission. And they had several senators, several house members from the Judiciary Committee, representatives from the Cabinet members, and they were going to have just four regular folks. And I guess they were looking for an Asian. I was skiing up in Utah and I get a call. My friend said this—my UCLA classmate said this, “Rose you got a call from the White House!” I said, “Tell them I’m busy.” Anyway, I took the call and they said, “we want you to serve on this commission.” And I said, “One, I don’t know anything about immigration; and number two, I’ll name you some other people who would be good.” Anyway, they said, “No, you’ve already been named so you need to come.” That was just a wonderful opportunity for me because although I knew nothing about immigration, I was able to connect with the leadership of Washington, the White House, and the Hill. And for many many years, we were able to use those connections for redress and to establish Manzanar as a national historic site.

governments law politics

Date: July 17, 2013

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sean Hamamoto

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

Interviewee Bio

Rose Matsui Ochi was born in East Los Angeles, California on December 15, 1938. Following the outbreak of World War II, young Ms. Ochi’s family was rounded up to live in the horse stables of the Santa Anita racetracks before being railroaded to Rohwer, one of America’s concentration camps for Japanese Americans at the time. Upon release, her parents were subjected to deportation, but were rescued by civil rights lawyers. Her family’s tragic experience taught her about injustices and about the power to right wrongs.

In order to fight for rights and social justice, Ms. Ochi decided to go into law. After earning a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles and M.S. from California State University, Los Angeles, she earned a J.D. from Loyola Law School. She began her career as a ‘Reggie’, a poverty lawyer, at U.S.C. Western Center on Law and Poverty and served as the co-counsel of record in Serrano v. Priest, the landmark educational law reform case. Ms. Ochi has since served on the state bar and Legal Services Commission, has worked as a Disciplinary Referee, and was the first AA Board of Trustees member for the LA County Bar Association.

Recently, she helped to rescue Tuna Canyon WWII Detention Camp by getting Council approval for Historic Designation. She passed away in December 2020. (December 2020)

*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.