Farewell to a statesman: Norm Mineta

Norman Y. Mineta, a remarkable American statesman and the most distinguished of my mentors, has died at age 90. An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy traces his life and times, in which he amassed a startling number of “firsts” and other distinctions in America history:

• The first Asian-American mayor of a major U.S. city.
• The first Japanese-American member of Congress elected from the 48 Continental states.
• A Cabinet Secretary in both Democratic and Republican Administrations.
• The nation’s longest-serving Transportation Secretary.

The achievements were even more remarkable given that, as a child, Mineta was imprisoned by his own US government in a WW II internment camp. And given that his political base had, during his career, an Asian-American population of far less than ten percent.

This didn’t happen by accident.  Norm Mineta was a driven man. At the same time, his ambition and will was tempered by his buoyancy and ebullience.

Documentarians Dianne Fukumi (director and co-producer) and Debra Nakatomi (co-producer) embed the story of Japanese-Americans, from immigration through internment, and on to reparations.

The defining event for Mineta’s Nissei generation was the WW II internment of 120,000 Americans by their own government. The central thread in the Mineta story is that the injustice of Mineta’s internment informed George W. Bush’s resistance to treating American Muslims that same way in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

The film’s most delightful moment may be the octogenarian Mineta sunnily taking his luggage through security at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport.

I have known Norm since I served in his 1974 primary campaign and interned for him on Capitol Hill in the mid 70s. One of my proudest moments was when my wife noted Norm’s delight in encountering me again in 2018. I last talked with him on the phone when he was sheltering at home in August 2020, barber-free, bragging about his “COVID ponytail”.

I saw An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy at an October 2018 friends and family screening with Norm Mineta, Fukumi and Nakatomi in San Jose. It has since played on PBS. You can stream it at An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy.