Entrevistas

1. Early Childhood

2. Camp as a Young Boy

3. “Something ominous in the background…”

4. On Joining the Marine Corps

5. Racial Antagonism in the Marine Corps

6. “I was never an exceptional student…”

7. Being 1 out of 4 Asians at Harvard Law School

8. Asian American Lawyers as Victims of “Overt Racial Discrimination”

9. “I could never get a job offer from a private law firm”

10. Being Denied as a Japanese American Lawyer

11. “The Best Seat in the Courthouse”

12. The First Japanese American on the U.S. Court of Appeals

13. On the Increase in Asian American Representation

14. The Intersection between Internment and Judgeship

15. Leaving a Legacy

Tashima,A. Wallace

(n. 1934) O Primeiro Nipo-Americano nomeado para o Tribunal de Apelações dos Estados Unidos

Being Denied as a Japanese American Lawyer

But I remember when I was at the law firm, a new matter came in from a client- a client had a long relationship with another lawyer in the firm, a real terrific lawyer, a fellow named John Austin. And John asked me, “Listen I want you…would you take this matter for me? I think you can do it” and all this kind of stuff, and I said “Sure.”

So I met with the client, and then, on the way out, the client stopped to see John Austin, and John came to see me and told me that the client didn’t want me to be his lawyer, and I couldn’t figure out why. He never did say, but since he had just met him, I think it had to be because I was Japanese. And John said to his credit, “Well, that’s who we are gonna have to do this case so if you don’t want him then we can’t take the matter.” So John Austin refused it much to his credit.

But anyway, things like that would happen during that era, that period. Something like that would happen much less today, I think.

discriminação relações interpessoais John Austin Direito escritórios de advocacia advogados discriminação racial

Data: July 2, 2014

Localização Geográfica: California, US

Entrevistado: Sakura Kato

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

Entrevistados

Nascido em Santa Maria, Califórnia, o juiz Atsushi Wallace Tashima foi o primeiro nipo-americano e terceiro asiático-americano na história a servir em um Tribunal de Apelações dos Estados Unidos. Ele nasceu de imigrantes isseis e passou três anos de sua infância no Poston War Relocation Center [campo de concentração de Poston], em Poston, Arizona. Quando Tashima entrou em seu primeiro ano na Harvard Law School em 1958, ele era um dos quatro únicos estudantes asiáticos-americanos em Harvard. No entanto, Tashima passou a conduzir 34 anos de carreira como juiz federal. Em 1980, Tashima foi nomeado para o Tribunal Distrital dos EUA pelo Distrito Central da Califórnia pelo presidente Carter. Depois de servir 15 anos no Tribunal Distrital dos EUA, o presidente Clinton promoveu Tashima ao Tribunal de Apelações dos EUA no Nono Circuito, que abrange os nove estados do oeste da Costa Oeste. Em 2004, Tashima assumiu o status sênior e atualmente está no Nono Circuito do Tribunal de Pasadena, em Pasadena, CA. (Agosto de 2014)