[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 64 (Thursday, April 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E385-E386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING MIKE MURASE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2022

  Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Mike Murase for 
his outstanding service on behalf of people of color, women, young 
people, seniors, and other disadvantaged members of society. Later 
today, the Little Tokyo Service Center in downtown Los Angeles will 
honor Mike Murase upon his retirement.
  Mike Murase has been an activist leader in the Japanese American 
national civil rights movement for more than 50 years.
  Mr. Murase moved from Japan to Los Angeles when he was just 9 years 
old after multiple visits to Hiroshima with his parents to witness the 
destruction of the world's first atomic bomb; visits which had a 
profound effect upon his social activism for the rest of his life. Mr. 
Murase was an early opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam 
conflict and was a leader in Asian American opposition to the war.
  He co-founded Gidra, a landmark Japanese American Movement 
publication, when he was an undergraduate at the University of 
California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also helped create the Asian 
American Studies Center.

[[Page E386]]

  Mr. Murase graduated from the Gould School of Law at the University 
of Southern California (USC) and taught some of the early ethnic 
studies classes at UCLA, USC, and California State University Long 
Beach.
  Mr. Murase was a member and leader of such seminal organizations as 
Asian Americans for Nuclear Disarmament, the Little Tokyo Peoples 
Rights Organization, the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations, 
Unity Los Angeles, and the California Rainbow Coalition. He was Rev. 
Jesse Jackson's deputy field coordinator and the California Asian 
American Coordinator in Rev. Jackson's 1984 presidential run; and the 
California Campaign director for Rev. Jackson's 1988 effort.
  Mike Murase was the District Director of my Congressional office for 
13 years where he worked tirelessly with countless community service 
organizations, improving their interaction with the Federal government. 
He was a highly skilled manager who was also an extremely talented 
graphics designer, writer, public speaker, and organizer, who, 
utilizing all of his skill set, led and trained my staff magnificently. 
He knew my district well and was able to meet challenges of every type, 
creating positive outcomes on many levels.
  Mr. Murase was instrumental in organizing the California Rainbow 
Coalition after serving on the Rainbow Coalition's national board. He 
was chair of the Los Angeles Free South Africa Movement from 1986 to 
1988, helped Quincy Jones and myself produce the city-wide welcoming 
reception for Nelson Mandela attended by 79,000 people at the Los 
Angeles Coliseum in 1990, and was an observer to the African National 
Congress conference in South Africa in 1991.
  Mike Murase is retiring after 16 years on the Executive Staff of the 
Little Tokyo Service Center, a vital social service and community 
economic development agency serving the Japanese American community 
throughout Los Angeles. It is a highly respected organization, which he 
helped found in 1979. He also served as Board President for its first 
five years.
  Amongst his other duties as the Director of Service Programs for the 
Center, Mr. Murase was the Terasaki Budokan Campaign Director and 
successfully opened a significant community athletic center in Little 
Tokyo.
  Mike Murase is a published author and an accomplished photographer, 
speaks fluent Japanese, and is a favorite interview subject of young 
Asian American activists. His importance to numerous cultural and 
political movements in our country cannot be overstated. I congratulate 
Mike upon his retirement from the Little Tokyo Service Center and look 
forward to his next endeavors.

                          ____________________