Dr. Henry “Hank” Oyama

Memorial services for Dr. Henry “Hank” Oyama were held today at St. Augustine’s Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave, with hundreds of people from the Tucson community in attendance. Dr. Oyama was 86 years old and passed away on March 20. He was born and raised here in Tucson, and at age 15 was innocently interned along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans in relocation camps in the western United States. Hank was sent to such a camp north of here in Poston, Arizona with his mother and sister. He was drafted into the U.S. Army after spending 15 months in that internment camp, and later enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, from which he retired as Lt. Colonel.

After returning to Tucson he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Arizona in education, and taught at Pueblo High School for 18 years. Following that he was hired at Pima Community College as director of bilingual and international studies, later became Associate Dean of that program, and eventually retired from PCC in 1991 as Vice President Emeritus. He was bilingual in Spanish and was well know for his advocacy for Hispanic students in Tucson, and established the Hispanic Student Endowment Fund. In 2003 an elementary school in Tucson was named after him at 2700 S. La Cholla Blvd.

Today’s service started off with a welcome by Bishop Gerald Kicanas, who said that Hank was “proud of his roots” and “rejoiced in them here in Tucson.” He also said that Hank “taught by example.” Father Gonzalo Villegas said that Hank exemplified Pope Paul VI’s statement “If you want peace, work for justice.” Particularly touching were when “Amazing Grace” and “Ave Maria” were sung.

Beautiful eulogy delivered today by Ward 5 Councilman Richard Fimbres (also a pallbearer), who spoke of Hank as a “man of integrity, a role model for all”, and listed the many awards/honors that Hank received over his lifetime including Pan Asian Man of the Year in 2005. Hank’s only surviving daughter Mary Catherine Tate spoke of her dad as the person she “learned tenacity from” and that “love is a choice.” Hank was survived by his 2nd wife Laura Ann Toledo Oyama, four children, five stepchildren, fourteen grandchildren, six great grandchildren.

Attending today’s service were many notables:

Ruben Reyes for CD 3 Congressman Raul Grijalva
Former State Senator Victor Soltero
LD 3 State Rep. Macario Saldate (pallbearer)
Pima County District 4 Supervisor Ray Carroll, District 5 Supervisor Richard Elias
Tucson City Councilmembers Richard Fimbres, Karin Uhlich, Regina Romero, former Councilman Steve Leal
TUSD governing board members Adelita Grijalva, Mark Stegeman, Kristel Foster, Cam Juarez
Sunnyside board member Eva Dong Carrillo
former TUSD Superintendents Roger Pfeuffer, Stan Paz

In 1959 he and his Caucasian college sweetheart Mary Ann Jordan challenged Arizona’s anti-miscegenation law which prohibited a Caucasian person from marrying someone Asian American. The actual statute stated: “The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay or Hindu is null and void.” Hank and Mary Ann became plaintiffs in the ACLU of Arizona’s first case, to challenge this law, which was stuck down by Pima County Superior Court Judge Herbert Krucker, but then appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court. Before that court could rule, the Arizona legislature repealed that law, so Hank and Mary Ann’s case was dismissed as moot.

I (an ACLU state board member for five years) attended the ACLU of Arizona’s 50th anniversary dinner on March 20, 2009 where the attorneys for that case were honored, as well as Hank. His wife Mary Ann had passed on by then, but Hank said that she should have been there that night, because she had a harder time with the verbal abuse she endured by being a white person married to a non-white person back then. For Hank and Mary Ann, love was indeed a choice, and they had to fight to remain together and get married.

He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Arizona for this civil rights challenge.

More about Hank in

Arizona Daily Star: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/tucson-education-civil-rights-advocate-hank-oyama-dies/article_fa0197ee-9185-11e2-b1b5-0019bb2963f4.html

Rum Romanism Rebellion (by former State Rep. Tom Prezelski): http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/2013/03/21/dr-henry-hank-oyama-1926-2013/

Rest in peace civil libertarian and “father of bilingual education” Henry “Hank” Oyama.

The Arizona Daily Star endorsed three candidates for the Governing Board of Tucson United School District (TUSD) and Pima Community College (PCC) today. Click here for the editorial.

Here’s whom their editorial board recommends for three seats:

Ralph Ellinwood
Betts Putnam-Hidalgo
Mark Stegeman (incumbent)

This week the Tucson Weekly endorsed Ralph Ellinwood and Cam Juarez for TUSD school board, with “honorable mentions” to Betts Putnam-Hidalgo and Kristel Foster. Read their endorsements, click here. The Weekly did not endorse for the PCC governing board.

The three incumbents on the TUSD board seeking election are Miguel Cuevas, Dr. Mark Stegeman, and Dr. Alex Sugiyama. This is a non-partisan race, with 12 candidates running. For more info the official twelve candidates, click here for my previous blog post, with campaign websites (updated).

And for the Star’s endorsements for Pima Community College governing board in which their editorial board urged change and voting for the political newcomers: http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/change-is-imperative-vote-for-lee-and-fridena/article_ddf76307-5b9f-57ab-b7eb-ac0f4528882a.html:

Sylvia Lee (District 3)
Richard Fridena (District 5)

The incumbents at PCC are “Vicki” Marshall (District 3) and Marty Cortez (District 5).

Another TUSD candidate forum coming up next week:

Save our Students: Save our Schools
TUSD Candidate Board Forum
How will you vote to make sure your child is getting the best education possible?

Our students/children deserve excellent public education and YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT! Learn where school board candidates stand on what matters most to our families:

Description:
(1) Safe transportation to neighborhood schools

(2) No small school closures

Lemonade, Coffee & Pan Dulce!

Join us October 16th 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at St. John’s Catholic Church (12th Ave and Ajo, 602 W. Ajo Way).

Early voting for the AZ General election began on October 11. Vote wisely on or before November 6.

There are 3 vacancies this year for the Tucson Unifed School District Governing Board and 12 people have filed petitions to run for these seats. Incumbents Miguel Cuevas, Dr. Mark Stegeman, and Dr. Alex Sugiyama are seeking election for these non-partisan, volunteer positions. Stegeman and Cuevas were elected four years ago, and Sugiyama (no relation to me though I have the same maiden name) was appointed on December 30 following the untimely death of long term Board member Judy Burns in October, 2011.

Petition deadline for nominations was today at 5 p.m. and here’s who has filed (but subject to challenges in court by August 22):

–Menelik Bakari, retired teacher, Doolen Middle School
–Debe Campos-Fleenor, Allstate insurance agent
–Don Cotton, retired postal worker, owner of online printing business
–Miguel Cuevas, current Board member & President; Project Coach at AFNI
–Ralph Ellinwood, attorney (criminal law)
–Kristel Foster, former UA clinical assistant professor in education (3 years), program specialist at Sunnyside School District language acquisition dept.
–John Hunnicut, husband of blogger Loretta of “Arizona Daily Independent”, businessman/owner of Philanthropy and Paytran
–Cam Juarez, neighborhood reinvestment project coordinator
–Robert Medler, VP of Government Affairs, Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce
–Betts Putnam-Hidalgo, teacher & activist
–Mark Stegeman, UA associate professor of economics, current board member & former President
–Alex Sugiyama, UA lecturer of economics, current board member

The other two TUSD board members Adelita Grijalva (daughter of CD 7 Congressman Raul Grijalva) and Clerk Michael Hicks are up for re-election in 2014. Info on the current school board, click here.

Stay tuned for the official list of who’s actually officially running in the November 6 General election– after August 22. For more deadline info and # of petition signatures obtained by these candidates, go to the Pima County School Superintendent webpage (click here).