Victim Advocacy. Protection for protectors

• Author: Amanda Robert
• Pages: 64-65

64

ABA JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2019

ABA Insider | VICTIM ADVOCACY

well as in earlier cas es against Mi noru

Yasui and Gordon Hirabayashi. The

situation called for a law yer.

Minami says he got t he job because

he was one of the few Japanese Amer -

icans doing impact l itigation on the

West Coast. But of course it was also

personal for him and for m any on the

litigation team he assemble d.

“Most of the lawyers in the g roup

were Japanese America ns, and they

had parents who were incarcerate d,

including my own,” he says. This gave

the group a mission “to vindic ate not

just our parents but the enti re Japa-

ne se c omm uni ty.”

That passion and pressu re carried

the team throug h a year of secret work

on the case. Both t he age of the case

and the wealth of docu mentation posed

challenges. In t he end, a Northern

California d istrict cour t granted a writ

clearing Korematsu, a nd the other two

men won partial vic tories from district

courts in Oregon a nd western Wash-

ington. The 9t h U.S. Circu it Court of

Appeals in San Fra ncisco ultimately

cleared Hirabayashi, but Yasui’s appeal

was mooted by his 1986 death.

The relitigated Korem atsu v. United

States was a victory for the Japanese

American com munity, although the

precedent was never formally over-

turned. In 2018’s Trump v. Hawaii,

Chief Justice John G . Roberts Jr. said

the Korem atsu deci sion was “gravely

wrong” and “has been overru led in

the court of histor y”—but Minam i

says he feels that this is not su fcient,

especially bec ause it came from a

majority opinion that gave great defer -

ence to executive power.

Creating community

But the courtroom isn’t the only plac e

to support the communit y. Minami

has also been a leader i n legal circles,

starting w ith helping to form the

Asian Americ an Bar Asso ciation of

the Greater Bay Area. H e’s also been

involved at the beginni ngs of many

state and national bar s for Asian

Americans , and Haratani s ays he’s

mentored numerous younger attorneys

like her.

Inspired in par t by racism he ex-

perienced as a young lawyer, M inami

has worked for years on diversify ing

the bench. He has ser ved on the judi-

cial screeni ng committee for former

California S en. Barbara Boxer, as well

as the Californ ia State Bar’s Commi s-

sion on Judicial Nominee s Evaluation.

“It starts to cha nge the whole cul-

ture of the bench,” Mina mi says.

Because of

that, friends say

aspiring judges

seek Minam i’s

advice.

“If you talk

to any Asian

American judge

in the state of

California , I bet

you nine out of

10 would know

Dale, wou ld

have spoken

to Dale, would

have gotten

some advice

from Dale,”

says Judge Ed-

ward Chen of

the U.S. Dist rict

Court for the Nort hern District of

California , who worked with Minam i

on Korema tsu.

Friends say Minam i does that work

in part throug h charisma.

“He can certa inly persuade people,

he can inspire people ,” says Tamaki.

“And he’s very clear about his sense of

right and wrong.”

That sense continues to g uide

Minami tod ay. In response to current

events, he’s helped start a campa ign

called Stop Repeati ng History, which

draws parallels wit h the Chinese E x-

clusion Act, the Japanese i nternment

and the “travel ban” at issue in Tr ump

v. Hawaii.

“I believe that the rhetoric of th is

country is just wonderf ul, but the

actions of the countr y speak other-

wise,” he says. “Part of my mission,

and part of my passion, is to have

that rhetoric match up to its actions

as much as we can.” Q

After years of hearing about

sexual assault sc andals in

the militar y, Nancy Parrish

looked around for a national

organization th at helped survivors— but

she found none.

In 2011, she founded Protect Our

Defenders, which she says is st ill the

only organization t hat solely supports

military s exual assault sur vivors,

including active- duty service member s,

veterans and civil ians. In addition to

its policy reform and advocac y efforts,

it offers a free legal ser vices program ,

manages a pro bono network and hous -

es its own law center.

Now, with a $25,000 grant f rom

the American B ar Endowment, Prote ct

Our Defenders is also d esigning and

deploying a traini ng curriculu m for pro

bono lawyers who represent sur vivors

of sexual violence and ha rassment in

Texas and Washington state.

“Wherever a survivor face s an

issue, we’ll go there,” says Parrish,

the organizat ion’s executive chair.

“But we also need to have attorneys in

states where there are heav y military

communities be cause that is often

where much of the work is required.

Texas and Washington are high on our

priority list.”

The ABE , an independent, nonprot

public charity, awarded nearly $414,000

to Protect Our Defender s and 10 other

organizations t hrough its Opportunity

Grant Program ea rlier this year. The

program was created in 2017 to support

organizations s eeking to develop new

“The guy

who gave us

permission

to be young,

successful

Asian American

lawyers was

Dale Minami.”

— Joan

Haratani, friend

and colleague

VICTIM ADVOCACY

Protection

for

Protectors

ABE grant expands services for

victims of rape and sexual assault

in the military

BY AMANDA ROBERT