Citizen Min In New Mexico

© Western New Mexico University

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 05/05/2016
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
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Location
Light Hall Auditorium
1000 W. College Avenue - Silver City, NM


In 1942, a twenty-five-year-old lawyer walks the streets of Portland, Oregon for three hours trying to get arrested for breaking a curfew imposed upon Japanese Americans. Finally, he marches to the police headquarters and insists, thus initiating a test case against the military orders that lead to the forced removal of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast and imprisonment in camps.

Min Yasui awaits 9 months in solitary confinement as his case makes its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rules against him. Upon his release, he continues to fight for the human and civil rights of all people.

In 1983, he re-opens his wartime case and is a vociferous and eloquent leader in the redress movement. Some call him the

Martin Luther King Jr. of the Japanese American community. After he speaks at a gathering in New Mexico, Senator Pete Domenici is moved to throw away his prepared remarks and pledges to support the redress legislation, which he previously opposed.

In 2015, Min Yasui is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the country. Says President Barak Obama: “Today Min’s legacy has never been more important. It is a call to our national conscience, a reminder of our enduring obligation to be the land of the free, and the home of the brave …”

A presentation by his daughter, Holly Yasui:

CITIZEN MIN IN NEW MEXICO

“Never Give Up: Minoru Yasui & the Fight for Justice” a documentary film-in-progress

Live readings from Holly’s play, “Citizen Min”and audience talk-back

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