Saturday, June 7, 1997

Minister who supports 'political prisoners' held in the U.S. often stands on unpopular ground

By JERRY THORNTON / Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - The Rev. Seiichi Michael Yasutake, who with fellow Japanese-Americans was imprisoned during World War II, knew injustice firsthand. He has used his knowledge to help others he considers "political prisoners."

"In the U.S. we have political prisoners," Yasutake, an Episcopal minister for 47 years, said. "They include Puerto Ricans who asked for Puerto Rico's independence; blacks who took a stand against racism; American Indians who demanded the return of their land; and people who stood against nuclear development.

"They are people who acted upon their beliefs and were imprisoned," Yasutake said. "I support them in their beliefs. The U.S. is in violation of their civil rights."

His task of trying to explain their plight isn't easy when you consider that some prisoners were members of, or associated with, what the government said were terrorist groups like the FALN (a Spanish acronym for Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional, or armed forces of national liberation), which was responsible for 100 bombings in five U.S. cities during the 1970s and 1980s that caused five deaths, injured 80 and caused more than $3.5 million in damages.

His efforts on the behalf of those prisoners, who have been incarcerated for more than 20 years, often draw criticism. But when faced with such criticism, Yasutake quickly points out that none of those people was charged with murder.

Still, his is a position many find hard to understand.

"I think it's very difficult because people receive most of their education on events happening in the world based on the media and unfortunately, in many cases, not enough information is given in depth," he said.

As executive director of the Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project, the fit, trim, 76-year-old Yasutake, who holds a fifth-degree black belt in Kendo (Japanese fencing), is constantly busy in his fight for the civil rights of inmates at various prisons.

His group operates under the National Council of Churches, U.S.A., which is made up of 32 denominations of about 40 million Christians.

In his roles as a priest and social activist, Yasutake has worked in the civil rights movement in Mississippi and protested the Vietnam War on the behalf of objectors.

Among the prisoners Yasutake's group is supporting is Mumia Abu-Jamal, a African-American author and former journalist who was convicted in 1982 of killing a police officer in Philadelphia and given a death sentence. In an appeal hearing last October, a key witness for the prosecution testified she was coerced by police into lying, Yasutake said. The judge refused to accept the testimony, he said.

Yasutake said he does not believe Abu-Jamal received a fair trial. He supports Abu-Jamal in his effort to win a new trial.

Yasutake spoke about racism, political prisoners and how the encampment experience affected his life during the recent Asian, Pacific-American Heritage Month celebration at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

The lives of thousands of Japanese-Americans changed drastically during World War II when Presidential Order 9066 imprisoned them. They lost not only their freedom but also their jobs, businesses and land, and many never fully recovered when they were released.

Yasutake and the rest of his family were sent to a camp near Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1942 by the War Relocation Authority.

Shortly after they were interned, Yasutake was permitted to attend the University of Cincinnati. But when asked to take a loyalty oath to the United States, he told authorities he was opposed to war and killing and refused to be drafted into the Army. Soon after that he was expelled from the university.

"The dean apologized and said it was done at the order of the Army," Yasutake said.

He later went on to Boston University, where he graduated in 1948. He graduated from Seabury Western Theological Seminary at Northwestern University in 1947 and was ordained a minister in 1950.

A resident of Evanston, Yasutake is currently an assistant pastor at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Evanston, where he has been assigned for the past 10 years. He also has been minister of a small Japanese-speaking congregation at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Chicago for the past 20 years.

Despite opposition to much that he does, Yasutake said he finds rewards in being involved in doing what he thinks is right.

"It doesn't matter how many people think the other way," he said. "I get strength and satisfaction from working with others who think the same, and from my passion for equality, my faith in religion and what it really stands for. Ultimately truth will prevail."

(c) 1997, Chicago Tribune.

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