Carolyn Sugiyama Classen, a life long Democrat, was born & raised in the State of Hawaii, was a Legislative Aide for U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye on Capitol Hill, and practiced law for a while. In Tucson she worked as a tribal staff attorney for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and later was the Interim Executive Director of the now defunct Domestic Violence Commission. In 2008 she became a “My Tucson” guest columnist for the Tucson Citizen newspaper, then continued blogging for Tucsoncitizen.com for over four and a half years. Her blogsite was entitled “Carolyn’s Community” about community events and some political news, until Gannett Publishing shut down the site on January 31, 2014. She started with Blog for Arizona on Feb. 11, 2014.
Part time she sat as a Hearing Officer in Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts Small Claims Division since April, 2005 for 15 years. She is married to University of Arizona Distinguished Professor Albrecht Classen, a native of Germany. They have one son, who lives in Seattle, WA with his wife and daughter.
She is also the Editor of the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition website, www.southernazjapan.org (since Jan. 2013).
If you don’t know much about the 5 schools of ikebana flower arrangments, here’s your chance to enjoy them all together at Yume Japanese Gardens, 2130 N. Alvernon Way. www.yumegardens.org for admission prices, hours of operation. “Winter: 10:00-4:30 Tues. through Sun.; closed Mon. Rain or cold may prompt early closure; to check, call 520-272-3200.” Ongoing ikebana … Read more
“The Tucson Police Department (TPD) is seeking applicants for a new Community Advisory Council. The Council’s mission will be to promote community involvement in shaping the policies and priorities of the TPD.
The TPD is committed to working closely with the people of Tucson to advance public safety and neighborhood wellbeing. The Community Advisory Council will assist the TPD in gathering public input on new policies or initiatives. It also will work directly with Tucson residents to identify, prioritize, and address ongoing community concerns. The Council will help ensure that members of the public have ongoing and meaningful input in how their communities are policed.
The Policing Project at New York University School of Law is assisting TPD with this project. The Policing Project is dedicated to promoting engagement between the police and the community, and finding a way for civilians to have a voice in policing.
Digna Theater’s first production is the play “DIGNA” by Patricia Davis. February 23-26 and March 2-5 at 7:30 pm at THEATRE @YWCA, 525 Bonita Street, Tucson AZ.
Digna is directed by Barclay Goldsmith, features Alba Jaramillo as Digna, and is accompanied with live music by Rebeca Cartes.
Performances: February 23-26 and March 2-5 at Theater@YWCA, 525 Bonita Avenue, Tucson AZ.
$15 general admission, $12 for students, and Thursday is pay-what-you-can day.
About Digna Ochoa
“In October 2001, renowned Mexican human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa was found shot dead in her Mexico City office. Ochoa’s death at the age of thirty-six was declared a suicide by Mexico City prosecutors, despite evidence pointing to foul-play, her receiving death threats, and attempts on her life.
Ochoa, a former nun, went on to represent farmers defending the environment in the state of Guerrero, Zapatista guerrillas in Chiapas, and indigenous peoples in her home state of Veracruz. In her pursuit of truth and justice she challenged powerful governmental agencies. She also uncovered torture and other abuses by the Mexican military and police.
Ochoa was twenty-four when she discovered a blacklist of union organizers and political activists in the office of the state attorney general. A few days later, she was kidnapped and raped. Her family and fellow human rights activists rejected the finding of death by suicide, and fought for the case to be re-opened. Ochoa’s case was reopened in 2005. Regrettably state prosecutors maintained suicide as the origin of her death.
This is a recap of most of my remarks at a recent Feb. 18, 2017 Day of Remembrance event at the Tucson Desert Art Museum, where there are currently 3 ongoing art & history exhibits on the WWII internment camps. About 120,000 Japanese Americans civilians (2/3 were U.S. Citizens, ½ were children) were rounded up by the US Government and incarcerated into 10 large relocation centers in desolate parts of America (including two camps in Arizona). It is fitting to publish these remarks today, February 19, 2017, on the 75th anniversary of the signing by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of Executive Order 9066 which caused this unjust relocation & internment.
Carolyn Sugiyama Classen speaking at Day of Remembrance, courtesy of atty. Robin Blackwood. Panelists Professors Min Yanagihashi & Kathryn Nakagawa in background.
“I am Sansei (3rd generation) from Hawaii, as my grandparents Hyakuji and Tai Sugiyama left Hiroshima and arrived in June, 1892 to the Kingdom of Hawaii before it fell in 1893. They became impoverished, indentured servants on sugar plantations in Hawaii. My grandparents had 8 children and my father Sueo was the last and youngest.
My father was the 1st in his family to go to college (University of Hawaii at Manoa) and was unfortunately in Los Angeles at USC Dental School when Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941. He was summarily expelled from USC due to his race, along with other Japanese American students. My father nicknamed Francis (a U.S. Citizen) did not return home to Hawaii, but stayed in Los Angeles, later obtained a “voluntary” pass from Western Defense Command General John DeWitt and fled to Chicago. He left his belongings with a Jewish woman in L.A. and she subsequently shipped them to him. He stayed in Chicago, took classes at Loyola University, then got re-admitted to Dental School at the U. of Maryland, finishing in 1946. (I found out later that about 500 others also got passes and voluntarily left the West Coast for inland states.)
Fast forward to me as a young attorney practicing law on the island of Kauai, when I decided to go to Washington D.C. to work for U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye. How did I know the Senator? He had always been in our family discussions (“Cousin Dan”), as he was married to first cousin Maggie, the 2nd of 6 daughters of Aunty Omitsu Sugiyama Awamura of Honolulu. Aunty was my father’s 2nd oldest sister of the 8 children of my immigrant grandparents. My father had been the last born of the 8 children, and was more then 20 years younger than the oldest siblings.
Dan Inouye and cousin Maggie were married before I was even born. Inouye was a decorated combat veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Battalion, lost his right arm in the war, had been elected as Hawaii’s first Congressman in 1959 (when Hawaii became a state). He became a U.S. Senator in 1963, and attended by older brother’s high school graduation when I was 16 (when I first met him).
“THE HISTORIC Y is very pleased to announce that there will be over 60 organizations participating in our COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER FAIR on February 20, from 4:30 to 6:30 in the lobby and the courtyard of the Historic Y, 300 E. University Boulevard. No matter what your interest, we are certain that you will find something that resonates with you. We look forward to seeing you there.”
