Defense
Attorney/Rights Activist Mia Yamamoto Receives Human Relations Award
Tue, Oct 18 2011
By
J.K. YAMAMOTO, Rafu Staff Writer
 |
| Mia F. Yamamoto |
Defense attorney and civil/human rights
activist Mia F. Yamamoto is among the recipients of the 2011 John Anson Ford
Human Relations Awards.
The awards were presented by the Los
Angeles County Commission on Human Relations on Oct. 11 during a Board of
Supervisors meeting. Named for a former county supervisor who established the
Joint Committee for Interracial Progress (which later became the Human
Relations Commission) in 1944, the awards go to individuals, organizations and
companies that have had a positive impact on local communities.
Yamamoto
was introduced by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas of the Second Supervisorial
District.
Born Michael F. Yamamoto (30-5-D )in
the Poston internment camp in Arizona in 1943, she graduated from Cal State Los
Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in government in 1966 and served in the Army
from 1966 to 1968, receiving the Army Commendation Medal and Vietnam Campaign
Medal. She graduated from UCLA School of Law in 1971 and co-founded the Asian
Pacific Islander Law Student Association.
Yamamoto served as a poverty lawyer for
the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (1971-74) and deputy Los Angeles County
public defender (1974-84), and has been in private practice since 1984. She has
been president of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and the Japanese
American Bar Association, and a board member of several other lawyers’
organizations.
A recipient of the American Bar
Association Spirit of Excellence Award (2008) and such titles as Southern
California Super Lawyer (Los Angeles Magazine, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) and
Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year (Century City Bar Association, 2006), she
has spoken and written extensively on such issues as juvenile law, the death
penalty, gun control, racial discrimination and police misconduct.
Ridley-Thomas said that Yamamoto
“completed her transition from male to female in 2003 and continues to advocate
for transgender rights while sharing her personal story as an out transgender
woman of Japanese American ancestry.”
Transgenders are often described as the
most discriminated against and least understood segment of the LGBTQ (lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning) population.
Stating that Yamamoto is “recognized in
the API and LGBTQ communities as a leader who connects issues and communities
to fight for human rights, justice and dignity,” Ridley-Thomas thanked her for
“outstanding service to the people of Los Angeles County.”
Yamamoto noted that the ceremony was being
held on National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), which was established in 1988 to
promote awareness of LGBTQ rights.
“I
accept the John Anson Ford Award on behalf of a community which has been
oppressed and marginalized for far too many years,” Yamamoto told the Rafu Shimpo after the
ceremony. “I am nobody special; however, whenever a transgender person of color
is included, then maybe somewhere another transgender child of color is given
the hope that there is a place for him or her in the world.
“And I give thanks to the many heroes and
martyrs of the civil rights movement for providing the wave on which the rights
of so many previously excluded people, including LGBT people of color, have
been realized and recognized. For that, I am thankful.”
Source: http://rafu.com/news/2011/10/defense-attorneyrights-activist-mia-yamamoto-receives-human-relations-award/
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