MINORU YASUI

By Gil Asakawa--Minoru Yasui's name is preserved forever. Those who walk into the Minoru Yasui Plaza at 303 W. Colfax Avenue will know that he had a great impact on the city he loved. That's the power of a memorial -- it reminds the future of the legacy of the past. And I can think of hardly a more appropriate memorial to someone of Yasui's accomplishments than to name a building after him.

The civil rights leader was memorialized as the namesake of the very building he worked in for years, as director of what is now called the city of Denver's Agency for Human Rights and Community Relations. Yasui was one of the Japanese American heroes who first fought in the courts the injustice of the Japanese American internment during World War II. The ceremony was attended by a large contingent of Japanese Americans and Yasui's family, and Denver's Mayor Wellington Webb, among others, spoke eloquently about Yasui's contributions to the civil liberties of all people. At the end of the ceremony, the Mayor unveiled a bust of Yasui, who died in 1986, in the building's lobby. Yasui was one of three Japanese American heroes (the others were Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi) who first fought in the courts the injustice of the Japanese American internment during World War II.

Born in 1916 in Hood River, Oregon, and a graduate of the University of Oregon Law School, Yasui was working for the Japanese Consulate in Chicago when Pearl Harbor was bombed. The next day he returned to Oregon, and began representing Japanese Americans. On Feb. 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 into law, paving the way for internment. That April, in order to set a legal precedent, Yasui purposely ignored a Portland curfew, demanding to be arrested. He was eventually sent to Minidoka internment camp in Idaho, and spent part of the time in solitary confinement. He fought the charges all the way to the Supreme Court -- and lost his case. But he never stopped fighting to right the wrong of internment.

In the late '70s he became involved with the Japanese American Citizens League's efforts to gain governmental redress for internment, a battle that was finally won after his death. It's worth noting that Yasui's life wasn't just focused on the experience of Japanese Americans. He came to Denver in 1944, and served as early as 1946 on a Denver mayor's committee which became the Commission on Community Relations. He became director of the commission in 1967, during a time of turbulence throughout the U.S., and ran it until his retirement in 1983. At the building dedication ceremony, Bill Hosokawa, one of the speakers who had known Min since childhood, reminded people that it was largely because of Yasui's pioneering community network efforts that Denver was one of the few major American cities which didn't suffer race-related riots and civil unrest in the late '60s.

Seeing Minoru Yasui's name forever gracing the edifice of a city and county building -- the first Asian American to have this honor -- was a powerful statement to me that this man made a difference in his community. And in the larger American community, the Japanese American Memorial would be an equally powerful statement, that our community served patriotically during WWII but also that we were wronged by our own government. I'm usually too much of a cynic to believe that a memorial can affect people in any way other than mere nostalgia, but I have to admit, I think this memorial is important. It's important to me as a third-generation Japanese American, especially because no one in my family was affected by internment. It's important to me because the memorial would remind others like me, who grow up with no idea of the pain an entire generation suffered. I'd bet anything that if Minoru Yasui were alive today, he'd be asking you to do the same.

Lincoln never visited Colorado, but Colorado and the other western territories were constantly on Lincoln's mind, notes William Convery, Colorado Historical Society State Historian. Lincoln hand-picked some of Colorado's most notable names-Gilpin, Evans, Colfax, Weld and others-who helped establish and administrate the territory and laid the groundwork for it to become a state in the Union.

"Colorado was important to Lincoln because the West was important to the Civil War," Convery says. "It was vital that the West remain loyal to the Union and Lincoln firmly believed that Colorado's mineral wealth would save the United States from the debt accrued during the Civil War. As a result, Lincoln personally selected many of the individuals who would later create Colorado."

Lincoln had a conversation about the Colorado mining regions on April 14, 1865 with former Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax only a few hours before he left for Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., where he was assassinated. Colfax was charged with inspecting the transcontinental railroad route that would transport Colorado's gold and silver to the East. Lincoln gave Colfax a personal address to deliver on his behalf to miners in Colorado. Colfax delivered the speech, among Lincoln's last public addresses, to a gathering of miners in Central City six weeks later. In gratitude for his efforts to bring statehood to Colorado, Denver city leaders named Colfax Avenue after the Indiana Congressman in 1868.

History Colorado is excited to host the first public appearance of Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America mobile exhibition, beginning April 30 at the Colorado History Museum. The exhibition will be open April 30-May 4 during normal Colorado History Museum hours: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

"GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE" HITS MAY 14TH IN AURORA

The Riviera Hotel, 9100 E. Colfax Ave., in Aurora boasts the Googie style.

By Christina Villa--The Aurora History Museum is set to present "Googie Architecture," an exhibit displaying the influence of the car culture and Space Age on architecture. The exhibit will run May 14 to July 13. Admission is free. The exhibit features an exploration of the architectural style that thrived during the 1950s, with a photographic display of buildings along Colfax Avenue that represent the Googie style.

This exaggerated, architectural style originated in Los Angeles in the 1940s in order to catch the attention of people passing by and to bring in business. The architectural concept focuses on futuristic elements, including up-swept and angled roofs, geometric shapes, boomerangs, flying saucers, atoms and parabolas. Other design tactics, like the use of glass, steel and neon are also part of the Googie style.

The Aurora History Museum is a service of the City of Aurora's Cultural Services Division. The museum at 15051 E. Alameda Parkway is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call 303-739-6666 or visit www.auroramuseum.org.

BAX ON THE FAX:

Have you noticed the red meters conspicuously place at the bars on E. Colfax? Under close inspection you will see that these aren’t really parking meters, but are meters to collect money for the homeless. “Denver’s Road Home” is the latest campaign by the city to make it easier for you and me to give away our hard earned “spare” change. Are the Homeless are now too lazy to collect their own change and have enlisted Denver’s help so they don’t have to stand in one spot for too long? Or has the City seen what a windfall these homeless people are getting and have decided to get their own piece of Colfax’s lucrative panhandling business. Perhaps, some homeless entrepreneur has decided that having these devices all over town will make his job easier so he can collect change in several places at once and run the competition out of the area. What clever Homeless guy figured out that if the City can get you every time you park then why can’t he get you every time you sit down to eat? First, the Denver Boot, then the Denver Homeless Meter...what could be next, vending machines for air? -- Scott Baxendale