Interviews

1. Early Childhood

2. Being “Half” in Japan

3. Sexual Orientation as a Youth

4. How Title IX Changed Her Life

5. Initial Interest in Law

6. Judge Marie Milks—Her Hero and a Mentor

7. On Being an Asian American Woman in Law

8. Confidence as a young Asian American woman

9. Not coming out at work until 1991

10. Becoming the First LGBTQ Judge to Serve on the Hawaii Supreme Court

11. Impact of Coming Out on Her Family

12. Impact of Coming Out Publicly in the US and Japan

13. Message for Young People

McKenna,Sabrina Shizue

(b. 1957) Jusice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii.

Judge Marie Milks—Her Hero and a Mentor

Judge Marie Milks, who was the first Japanese American woman judge in Hawaii. When I was a third-year law student—I'm sorry—a first-year law student in the spring of 1980, we have what they call “moot” court. And you do mock appellate arguments. Her husband is a lawyer and he happened to be my judge.

She happened to walk in and observe my argument. She was a public defender and she had just been appointed to the bench. She was one of the first women to ever be appointed to be a judge in Hawaii. The first definitely the first Japanese-American, one of the first Japanese-American women judges in the country. And she observed my argument.

And after, afterwards, her husband was critiquing me. And I remember her saying, “Oh, come on, Bill. She did the best she could with the facts and the law she was given.” And I never forgot those words. And she later became a mentor to me as she continues to mentor me and support me, even though she's retired. And so she's definitely someone that I look up to.

Hawaii heroes judges Marie Milks mentoring United States

Date: July 14, 2022

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Lana Kobayashi

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

Interviewee Bio

Sabrina Shizue McKenna was born on October 7, 1957, in Tokyo, Japan, to a Japanese mother and an American father. Being half-Japanese, McKenna struggled with feeling either “too Japanese” or “too white.” Justice McKenna’s life was drastically impacted in 1972, when Title IX was passed. Title IX allowed McKenna to receive a scholarship to attend the University of Hawaii and play basketball. During her time at the university, she came to terms with her sexuality.

McKenna believes her sexual orientation might have altered her career path. After graduating from law school and working for law firms, McKenna became a law professor. Instead of running for government office, she became a judge. However, McKenna’s path to becoming a judge was not a smooth one. It wasn’t until 2011 that she was appointed to her current position as the Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii. Justice McKenna's story shows that members of the LGBTQ community can have successful and meaningful lives. (October 2022)

*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.