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OREGON LAWS 2016 Chap. 64 CHAPTER 64 an ACT Relating to a Day to Honor Minoru Yasui

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OREGON LAWS 2016 Chap. 64 CHAPTER 64 an ACT Relating to a Day to Honor Minoru Yasui OREGON LAWS 2016 Chap. 64 CHAPTER 64 which he served as vice-chair, chair and executive director, and as such was an active advocate for AN ACT HB 4009 civil and human rights whose efforts cut across eth- nic and religious lines and addressed the concerns Relating to a day to honor Minoru Yasui; and de- of all minorities and marginalized people; and claring an emergency. Whereas Minoru Yasui was an active member Whereas 100 years ago, in 1916, Minoru Yasui of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) was born in Hood River, Oregon, to Masuo and throughout his life, taking on leadership roles at Shidzuyo Yasui, Japanese immigrants, making him both the local and national level, and was a founding a second generation Japanese American, or Nisei; member of the Mile High Chapter of JACL in and Colorado and the Mid-Columbia Chapter of JACL in Whereas in 1933, Minoru Yasui graduated Hood River, Oregon; and salutatorian from Hood River High School, and in Whereas Minoru Yasui reopened his World War 1937 graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University II Supreme Court case in 1983 under a writ of error of Oregon and was commissioned a Second Lieuten- coram nobis in the United States District Court for ant in the United States Army; and the District of Oregon; and Whereas in 1939, Minoru Yasui became the first Whereas as chair of the JACL National Redress Japanese American graduate of the University of Committee, Minoru Yasui helped build and lead the Oregon School of Law and the first Japanese Amer- movement seeking an official apology and ican member of the Oregon State Bar; and reparations for the injustices perpetrated against Whereas on March 28, 1942, Minoru Yasui vio- Japanese Americans during World War II, actions lated a military curfew imposed under Executive that led to passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 Order 9066—the order that led to the incarceration two years after his death; and of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II; Whereas Minoru Yasui is buried in his beloved and hometown of Hood River, Oregon, despite his many Whereas Minoru Yasui deliberately challenged years based in Denver; and that curfew by walking the streets of Portland, Ore- Whereas President Barack Obama awarded gon, and then turned himself in to the Portland po- Minoru Yasui the Presidential Medal of Freedom on lice so that he could test the constitutionality of November 24, 2015, for devoting his life “to fighting such discriminatory regulations; and for basic human rights and the fair and equal treat- Whereas Minoru Yasui lost his case in the ment of every American”; and United States District Court for the District of Ore- Whereas when presenting the medal, President gon and spent nine months in solitary confinement Obama said, “Min’s legacy has never been more im- in a six-foot-by-eight-foot cell in the Multnomah portant. It is a call to our national conscience, a reminder of our enduring obligation to be the land County Jail awaiting his appeal to the United States of the free and the home of the brave, an America Supreme Court; and worthy of his sacrifices”; now, therefore, Whereas the United States Supreme Court ruled Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Or- against Minoru Yasui in regard to the military cur- egon: few, and he was released from jail only to be incar- cerated in the Minidoka War Relocation Center in SECTION 1. March 28 of each year is desig- Idaho; and nated as Minoru Yasui Day. Whereas after his release from Minidoka in 1944, Minoru Yasui settled in Denver, Colorado, where he SECTION 2. This 2016 Act being necessary practiced law and helped found and participated in for the immediate preservation of the public many organizations, including the Urban League of peace, health and safety, an emergency is de- Metropolitan Denver, the Latin American Research clared to exist, and this 2016 Act takes effect on and Service Agency, Denver Native Americans its passage. Approved by the Governor March 28, 2016 United and various War on Poverty programs; and Filed in the office of Secretary of State March 28, 2016 Whereas Minoru Yasui was appointed to the Effective date March 28, 2016 Denver Commission on Community Relations, for 1.
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