Interviews

1. Incarceration, Deportation, and Lawyers

2. On Challenging Institutions

3. Proud to be Japanese Americans

4. The White House Will Have to Wait

5. Nikkei Pioneers in the Legal Field

6. “…Put Me In A Cage”

7. Preserving Manzanar-Chutzpah and the DWP

8. Rising Up To A Challenge

9. Congressional Hearings

10. “A Low Tolerance For Injustice…”

11. Pop and Balls

12. Fifty Years and Going Strong

13. Message to Aspiring Japanese American Lawyers

Ochi,Rose

(1938-2020) Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist

Incarceration, Deportation, and Lawyers

Our family’s case, we were first living in stables in Santa Anita for many, many months until we were rerouted to Arkansas, Rohwer, where we spent about four years. When we were released, my parents were subject to deportation because my father was no longer in the importing business. They went to San Francisco to fight the deportation order because now they had four kids. Fortunately, there were some civil rights lawyers who fought on their behalf and they were able to overturn the deportation order. And I think something that stuck with me as a young child about how lawyers can fight and make a difference.

Arkansas California concentration camps Rohwer concentration camp Santa Anita temporary detention center temporary detention centers United States World War II World War II camps

Date: July 17, 2013

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sean Hamamoto

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association

Interviewee Bio

Rose Matsui Ochi was born in East Los Angeles, California on December 15, 1938. Following the outbreak of World War II, young Ms. Ochi’s family was rounded up to live in the horse stables of the Santa Anita racetracks before being railroaded to Rohwer, one of America’s concentration camps for Japanese Americans at the time. Upon release, her parents were subjected to deportation, but were rescued by civil rights lawyers. Her family’s tragic experience taught her about injustices and about the power to right wrongs.

In order to fight for rights and social justice, Ms. Ochi decided to go into law. After earning a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles and M.S. from California State University, Los Angeles, she earned a J.D. from Loyola Law School. She began her career as a ‘Reggie’, a poverty lawyer, at U.S.C. Western Center on Law and Poverty and served as the co-counsel of record in Serrano v. Priest, the landmark educational law reform case. Ms. Ochi has since served on the state bar and Legal Services Commission, has worked as a Disciplinary Referee, and was the first AA Board of Trustees member for the LA County Bar Association.

Recently, she helped to rescue Tuna Canyon WWII Detention Camp by getting Council approval for Historic Designation. She passed away in December 2020. (December 2020)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.