Rose Ochi: A Civil Rights Advocate Who Blazed Trails for Asian American Women

Rose Ochi was a strong and broadly revered authorized thoughts who spent her profession advocating for civil rights. When she died late final 12 months, the loss was felt by the numerous she impressed to observe her path, together with myself.

At a really early age, Ochi and her household confronted the devastating cruelty of being imprisoned on the Rohwer focus camp in Arkansas, alongside tens of hundreds of different Japanese Individuals throughout World Warfare II. However, as a substitute of embittering her to a world that may persecute her for her race, this injustice catalyzed Ochi’s ardour to create and advocate for insurance policies that constructed a extra simply and equitable society, in order that others wouldn’t must expertise what she did. In actual fact, Ochi went on to play a key function in securing a federal apology and redress for Japanese American detention camp survivors. And, due to her essential work with the Manzanar Committee, the previous California internment camp was designated as a Nationwide Historic Website, in order that the injustices performed to the Japanese American group wouldn’t be forgotten or erased.

Regardless of her childhood expertise — or possibly due to it — she continued to interrupt barrier after barrier. This set Ochi on an extended and completed profession of not simply combating injustices, however therapeutic them. She was chosen to serve on President Jimmy Carter’s Choose Fee on Immigration and Refugee Coverage, via which she advocated for immigration reform and helped to safe a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of undocumented immigrants. And she or he labored with President Invoice Clinton’s administration on drug coverage and race relations. Ochi additionally served in a number of roles for the town of Los Angeles, the place she helped to scale back gang violence, supported applications for at-risk youth, designed profitable group policing strategies, and even elevated the variety of girls and officers of colour within the Los Angeles Police Division.