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Mine Okubo — Artist, Activist, Visionary

Japanese American artist Mine Okubo’s memorial service was held in New York City last weekend after similar events held in Riverside, California and the Bay Area. Over 100 people of many backgrounds, ages, and professions came to the Japanese American United Church for a non-religious celebration of a feisty, visionary and talented individual who passed away on Feb. 10 at the age of 88. Best known among Asian Americans as the author of Citizen 13660, a personal memoir of the Japanese American wartime camp experience first published in 1946, Okubo’s standing in the world of art will only continue to grow, as her immense collection of canvases is revealed in shows planned around the country over the next few years.

Mine’s life inspired tributes from friends such as Kathy Hyde, Stanley Kanzaki, and Karen Higa, who told stories of the indomitable spirit who was never afraid to speak her mind — whether in conversation or on canvas. Her stories and jokes were legendary in Greenwich Village; and even as she lay on her deathbed, she still was aware enough of her surroundings to ask that loudmouths in the next room be quiet. After the formal ceremony, which included the poetry of Sohei Hohri, Tooru Kanazawa, and Fay Chiang, all attendees were treated to a sushi brunch and a gallery of some of Mine’s artwork from the 1930s to the present.

For Asian Americans who believe that the Asian American movement began in the 1960s, Mine and her contemporaries are proof of a long, rich tapestry of activism that goes back many generations. After travels to Europe, and work with muralist Diego Rivera and others, Mine became an internationalist who included images of kids of all backgrounds in her art, long before the multi-cultural children’s books of the 1960s. She was a feminist, putting women front and center in many of her pictures. And she was an activist, bringing her art and energy to peace and social justice.

In fact, Mine’s service was like an informal reunion of some members of the Japanese American Committee for Democracy (JACD), a group of progressive Japanese Americans in New York who backed Progressive Party candidate Henry Agaard Wallace in the 1948 election. Like current Asian American activists, who push third party alternatives because they see little difference between the Democratic and Republican parties, the Progressives were New Deal reformers. They advocated an end to the Cold War, repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act, price and rent controls, and full constitutional rights for racial minorities.

Despite myriad distractions and disruptions over eight decades, Mine was able to stay focused on both her broader vision and the minute details of her work. A quote from her on the cover of the memorial service program said it succinctly: “But after all these years of struggle, it’s coming into the wholeness of life, the wholeness of yourself again. And you realize that you had nothing to learn — that you had it all from the beginning. Once you make it good in one thing, all else will follow.”

Rest in peace, Mine, and thanks for being such an inspiration.