Meet Our Team
Holly Yasui
Co-Founder
Holly is the youngest daughter of Minoru and True Yasui. She is co-director of the documentary film Never Give Up! Minoru Yasui and the Fight for Justice and author of the theatrical play Citizen Min and reader's theatre piece Dec 7- Sept 11.
Homer Yasui
MYLP Steering Committee
Honorary Co-chair
Homer is the youngest brother of Minoru Yasui. In addition to working as a surgeon, he was active in the Japanese American Citizens League, the Japanese American Redress movement, and chaired the national committee in support of Min's corum nobis petition.
Peggy Nagae
Co-Founder
Peggy was lead attorney for Minoru Yasui in reopening his WWII case, and also led the successful campaign to win a Presidential Medal of Freedom for Minoru Yasui in 2015.
Yuka Yasui Fujikura
MYLP Steering Committee
Honorary Co-chair
Yuka was the youngest sibling of Minoru Yasui. She was a Fulbright Scholar with masters degrees in public health nursing and public health, and was a recipient of the Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger award for her work with underprivileged young girls.
June Arima Schumann
MYLP Steering Committee Chair
June’s professional history includes classroom teacher, social service administrator in gerontology. She is a longtime community activist with roots in the 1970’s civil rights movement. She helped establish the Asian American Council of Greater Philadelphia, Portland Taiko, Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center (founding director), and other multi-ethnic programs.
Lynn Fuchigami
JAMO and MYLP Steering Committee
Lynn is the Executive Director of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon (JAMO), a nonprofit organization whose projects include the history museum and the Japanese American Historical Plaza in Portland.
Kimberly McCullough
MYLP Steering Committee
Kimberly was instrumental in getting the Oregon State Legislature to designate March 28th as Minoru Yasui Day in perpetuity.
Maija Yasui
MYLP Steering Committee
Maija Yasui married Min Yasui's nephew, Philip (Flip) Yasui in 1970. She and her children continue to farm the family orchards and carry on the Yasui name and legacy in Hood River, Oregon.
Gerhard Letzing
MYLP Steering Committee
Gerhard has been a community organizer for his entire career. He served as the Executive Director for the Washington State Association for Justice from 1986 to 2016. In 2017 he was the lead organizer of a successful immigration hotline in Washington State.
Jessica Asai
MYLP Steering Committee
Jessica hails from Hood River, Min’s hometown. She was the Minidoka Civil Liberties Symposium speaker for 2020; and works in civil rights compliance for an academic health center.
Chris Ling
MYLP Steering Committee
Chris is a data engineer, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professional, and lawyer who worked on the successful campaign to win a Presidential Medal of Freedom for Minoru Yasui in 2015.
.jpg)
Jennifer Fang
MYLP Student Contest Commitee
Jennifer Fang is the Director of Education at the Japanese American Museum of Oregon and an adjunct professor of American History at the University of Portland.
Alan Zhou
MYLP Student Contest Committee
Alan is a high school student in Portland, OR. In 2020, he and Kyler Wang were awarded First Place in the National History Day contest for their documentary on the life of Minoru Yasui. He also designed the website that you are viewing right now.
Fiona Larsen-Teskey
MYLP Student Contest Committee
Fiona is a high school student in Hood River, Oregon. In 2021, her essay on immigration won first place for the senior division of the Minoru Yasui Student Contest. She is currently part of the Minoru Yasui Youth Council as well as the Minoru Yasui Student Contest committee.
Jillian Toda-Currie
MYLP Student Contest Committee
Jillian helped with the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom campaign for Min Yasui and volunteers with community organizations in the Portland area.
Cynthia Bayse
MYLP Student Contest Committee
Cynthia is a retired New Mexico teacher and former Education Manager at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center.
Kyler Wang
MYLP Student Contest Committee
Kyler is a high school student in Portland, OR. In 2020, he and Alan Zhou were awarded First Place in the National History Day contest for their documentary on the life of Minoru Yasui. He is currently working on promotion for the annual Minoru Yasui Student Contest.
Logan Pinard
MYLP Student Contest Committee
Logan is a middle school student in Kapolei, Hawaii. In 2021, his essay on Hamdi Ulukaya was a finalist the junior division of the Minoru Yasui Student Contest. He is currently part of the Minoru Yasui Youth Council as well as the Minoru Yasui Student Contest committee.