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Minoru Yasui to posthumously get Medal of Freedom

March 3 in Colorado is “Minoru Yasui Day”, in honor of him.

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The late Minoru “Min” Yasui, a UO-educated attorney and tireless civil rights advocate, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a special White House ceremony November 24.

They are honored for making “especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors”, according to the White House.

Minoru Yasui is most well-known for his World War II legal case challenging the racial discrimination of military orders that resulted in the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in US concentration camps. However, his legacy does not end there.

Yasui came from a family of business people who operated a small Hood River variety store and became influential in the region as a center for Japanese American workers and their families The Yasui Bros. storefront is part of the Oregon Historical Society’s “Oregon My Oregon” exhibit. After the war, he helped to found and participated in a multitude of community organizations serving ethnic and religious minorities, children, youth, seniors, and low-income people.

Minoru Yasui, who grew up in Hood River, went to jail during World War II battling against the interment and other civil-rights restrictions placed on Japanese Americans.

This impressive roster of support is in itself an impressive achievement, which proves that the singular efforts of one person – Peggy Nagae – in collaboration with dozens of supporters throughout the USA, can make a dream into reality. “He demonstrated a lifetime commitment to civil rights, from his intentional defiance of the military curfew and his Supreme Court case, through his fight for redress for Japanese Americans, to his civil rights advocacy in Denver, where he brought together different communities of color”.

In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the curfew and Yasui spent the rest of his life appealing the conviction.

In addition to Yasui, recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom include: Yogi Berra (posthumous), Bonnie Carroll, Shirley Chisholm (posthumous), Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Billy Frank, Jr.

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Holly Yasui is now working on a documentary titled, Never Give Up!

Minoru Yasui with Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi