ontrak_autumn_2017_new

FROM TOP Minidoka Internment Camp, circa 1943.
Yasui spent many evening participating several
civil rights groups.
Japan, and that he was therefore no longer a U.S.
citizen. He was then sent to Minidoka internment
camp in Hunt, Idaho, where he lived until 1944.
After his release, Yasui would spend his remaining
days fighting to right the wrongs that the executive
order unleashed.
According to his youngest daughter, Holly Yasui,
her father was a fighter. He tried to enlist
eight more times to serve in the U.S. Army during
World War II, but his criminal record—for breaking
curfew for a law drawn up in a moment of
national hysteria—kept him out.
Today, Holly lives in San Miguel de Allende, a
historic tourist town located about three hours
north of Mexico City, but she grew up in
Denver, where Yasui opened
another law practice
following
his release from the Minidoka internment camp.
But even that almost didn’t happen. Until he lawyered
up, the state of Colorado used that arrest
as a pretext to keep him out of the Colorado bar.
Back then, Holly said, her father was a tireless
advocate of marginalized people. Each night,
he’d return from the office to eat dinner, only
to leave to attend another civil rights meeting.
On weekends, he’d load his three daughters
into his light gray Chrysler station wagon
and drive to downtown Denver to attend more
meetings while his girls would attend ballet or
judo classes or spend the afternoons watching
B-grade samurai movies at the Tri-State Buddhist
Church.
“I thought that was just what dads do,” Holly
recalled. "He seemed to never be not working."
At present, Holly is working on a follow-up
to her 2016 George Takei-narrated documen-
tary Never Give Up! Minoru Yasui and the
Fight for Justice, which tells the story of her
father’s childhood, his arrest and imprisonment
and the many, many battles he led or
helped lead for people of all ethnicities, classes
and economic backgrounds.
After settling in Denver, Yasui founded, joined
or was appointed to multiple civic groups
including the JACL—they were back on