Yasui Story

Minoru Yasui (安井稔, Yasui Minoru, October 19, 1916 – November 12, 1986) was an American lawyer from Oregon.

Born in Hood River, Oregon, he earned both an undergraduate degree and his law degree at the University of Oregon. Minoru Yasui was the son of Japanese immigrants Shidzuyo and Masuo Yasui .

He was one of the few Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor who fought laws that directly targeted Japanese Americans or Japanese immigrants. His case was the first case to test the constitutionality of the curfews targeted at minority groups.

Yasui's case, as a violation of Civil Rights of Japanese Americans made its way to the United States Supreme Court, where his conviction for breaking curfew was affirmed. After internment as an Incarcerated Person during most of World War II, he moved to Denver, Colorado in 1944.

In 1986, his criminal conviction was overturned by the federal court. On November 16, 2015, President Barack Obama announced that Yasui would receive a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom . source

Here is an interview by Mrs. Amici of Minoro's youngest brother, Dr. Homer Yasui, where he shares his experience and discusses the importance of the Bill of Rights.

He was born in 1924, almost 100 years ago. Not only was he a teenager during the Second World War, but he also has over 98 years of life experience.

He is one few remaining Japanese Americans who lived through and remember incarceration.