U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) applauded the news that President Obama has named Hood River native Minoru Yasui as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Walden urged President Obama earlier this year to award the medal to Yasui, a long-time civil and human rights leader.
“For decades, Minoru Yasui fought tirelessly to defend and expand basic rights for all Americans,” Walden said. “Though he faced discrimination and hatred during World War II, his belief in America never wavered. His long fight to expand justice and opportunity should make all Oregonians proud. That’s why I was proud to support his nomination for a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and applaud the President for recognizing his life and work. I only wish that he could have lived to see this day.”
Born in Hood River in 1916, Minoru Yasui was the first Japanese-American graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law. In March 1942, Yasui was the first to intentionally defy a military curfew imposed upon Japanese-Americans. He was sent to prison (including nine months in solitary confinement in Multnomah County Jail) and courageously fought his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction. Yasui spent the rest of his life appealing his wartime conviction, until his death in 1986 at the age of 70.
In a letter to President Obama earlier this year, Walden strongly supported Minoru Yasui’s nomination. A copy of that letter is attached.
According to the White House, the Medal of Freedom is “presented to individuals who have made 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.” The awards will be presented at the White House on Nov. 24.
