[Uosenate] Sunday is Minoru Yasui Day

[Senate Pres Elliot Berkman]

Good morning, Senators,

Former Senator Theo Ko Thompson told me about Minoru Yasui Day in Oregon, which is this Sunday. I was not aware of this before (thanks, Theo!) and I’ve been inspired reading about Yasui’s career. Yasui is surely among our most distinguished alumni and I think Senators would like to know about him.

Yasui was a civil rights lawyer who spent his career fighting racist and discriminatory laws, particularly against Japanese Americans. Yasui was a native Oregonian and earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from UO. He is the first Japanese American graduate from the Law School and (possibly) the first Japanese American lawyer admitted to the Oregon bar. The Law School has a fellowship honoring his life and work. Yasui was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

I hope you’ll take a moment this weekend to read a bit about Yasui’s legacy. It is a useful reminder of the  long history of anti-Asian racism in the US that sadly continues to this day.

- Ell

Elliot Berkman
Senate President
Professor, Department of Psychology & Center for Translational Neuroscience
he/him/his
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