patsy mink: be the change.

Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink was born in Maui in the 1920s, the third-generation descendant of Japanese immigrants (sansei). Mink grew up on a sugar plantation and entered high school in 1940, one year before Honolulu was attacked by Japan. In 1942, anti-asian hostility and violence hit a boiling point, and FDR passed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the “forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to ‘relocation centers’ further inland – resulting in the incarceration of Japanese Americans (National Archive).”

“I believe in a future where every person is treated with dignity and respect.”

Asian youth across America at that time were faced with widespread bigotry and shouldered incredible adversity and responsibility. Still, Mink’s resolve was enduring, and in her high school senior year she ran for, and was elected, student body president. She then attended the University of Hawai’i, but left in her junior year to attend Wilson College in Pennsylvania, where she quickly learned that only white students were allowed in the main residence halls. In response, Mink organized a group of students of color and fought successfully to desegregate on-campus housing. After college, Mink attended Law School in Chicago, where she met and was married her husband, John Mink, and they moved back to Hawai’i after their first child was born. Because of further hostility toward those in interracial marriages, Patsy struggled to find work, ultimately opening her own practice.

“We must challenge the systems and structures that perpetuate inequality.”

In 1962 Mink won a seat in the Hawai’i State Senate and continued to campaign for U.S. Congress (even after the Democratic party decided to support another candidate). Soon after, she become the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress. During this time Mink also formed the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and, in 1972, she became the first Asian-American to run for U.S. President, on an anti-war platform.

“I am not here to conform; I am here to challenge the status quo and create change.”

She wasn’t well supported, even by her own party, and didn’t win. However, that same year, she was the chief sponsor of the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, which states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Title IX passed and is considered a landmark act in second wave feminism.

“It is not enough to just talk about equality; we must actively work towards achieving it.”

1990, Mink was reelected to Congress and served six terms in the House of Representatives. That same year, she came out in opposition to George Bush Sr.’s Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas. When the Senate Judiciary Committee denied Anita Hill—an attorney and educator who was a legal advisor to Thomas for three years—the opportunity to testify against Thomas’s seat, Mink and several other congresswomen marched to the Capitol in protest. Hill, who had been repeatedly sexually harassed by Thomas, was later allowed to testify.

Mink co-sponsored many more impactful bills, including the Family Stability and Work and DREAM Acts.

Patsy Mink died of pneumonia in Honolulu in 2002. Over 900 women honored her by forming a human lei, surrounding the tent housing Mink’s casket, singing native Hawaiian songs. She had just won the 2002 primary election.

“The fight for equality is not an overnight battle; it is a lifelong commitment.”

Learn more about Asian American history this month and all months. And, throughout May, check out the many Seattle events opportunities to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawai’ian, and Pacific Islander history, heritage and culture.