[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 90 (Friday, June 25, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MICHI OKA ONUMA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 25, 2004

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the exemplary life and 
accomplishments of Michi Oka Onuma, a native San Franciscan who died 
peacefully at the age of 96 on May 15, 2004. Michi Onuma represented 
the best of San Francisco. She was a talented leader with a generous 
heart. She will be greatly missed.
  Michi Onuma overcame many obstacles in her life. Graduating from the 
University of California at Berkeley in 1931, she was one of the few 
women college graduates of her generation of Japanese Americans. She 
managed as a single parent at a time when divorce was taboo. She 
overcame the prejudice that came with being Japanese American, 
including suffering interment, along with 120,000 fellow Japanese 
Americans, during World War 11.
  During her long life, Michi Onuma had various careers, including as a 
social worker and a community newspaper reporter and editor. She never 
fully retired, working well into her eighties before cancer slowed her 
down. Fortunately, she recovered and remained vital and engaged until 
the end.
  In the process of raising a family and having a career, Michi helped 
build and sustain community institutions that continue to flourish 
today. Michi Onuma persuaded the inaugural board of directors of the 
Japanese Community and Cultural Center of Northern California to build 
a community center. Michi Onuma was on the YWCA board in its early days 
when foresighted first generation Japanese American women raised funds 
to purchase a building for community use in perpetuity. Since these 
women were not allowed to own property outright, they left the property 
in trust with the YWCA organization with the understanding that the 
YWCA would follow their wishes. When the YWCA went back on its promise, 
Michi Onuma provided the historical documentation needed to negotiate 
the return of the YWCA into community hands. Nihonmachi Little Friends, 
a child care center serving the Japanese American community, is now the 
proud owner of the building.
  Other recipients of Michi Onuma's leadership included organizations 
that she founded such as the Red Dots, a community golf club; the 
Japanese Women's Alumnae Association at UC Berkeley; and Satsuki Kai, a 
Japanese wives group. Michi received a star on the Walk of Fame on Gene 
E. Suttle Plaza in 2003 for her work in the Western Addition of San 
Francisco, especially during the upheaval that redevelopment caused in 
the Japanese and African American communities in the late 1950s. She 
was also honored as a women warrior by the Pacific Asian American Women 
Bay Area Coalition as a symbol of what strong women can accomplish.
  Michi Onuma was a visionary, a pioneer, and a strong leader who had a 
lasting impact on San Francisco. We are grateful to have had her with 
us for so long.

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