It’s Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and today, President Biden signed the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act into law. The legislation is meant to combat discrimination and violence against Asian-Americans, which has been on the rise over the past year.
The Act was sponsored by Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, the only immigrant currently serving in the United States Senate. Hirono recently published her memoir, Heart of Fire, which documents her journey from Japan to the U.S. as a young child, her upbringing in Hawaii, her political awakening in the 1970’s and more. Throughout the story, Hirono’s mother shines as a constant beacon of fierce determination as she works to create a better life for her children.
I spoke with Hirono last week about how she became one of the most outspoken voices in politics, how she manages to work across the aisle in increasingly divisive times, and about finding the energy to forge ahead even when things seem hopeless.
Amy Shoenthal: Your mother sounds like an incredible woman. Why was it important for you to tell your story with a focus on her significant influence throughout your life?
Senator Mazie Hirono: My mother totally changed my life by bringing me to this country. Her courage and perseverance through that was a story I wanted to tell.
She showed me three life lessons. One is that just one person can make a difference. Two, half the battle is showing up. And not just physically showing up but staying the course with tremendous determination. She was a single parent who had no social safety, who just worked hard and persevered for her children. The third is to take risks and get out of your comfort zone. My mother definitely did that when she decided to put an entire ocean between my father, his family and us.
Two years ago, my mother suffered two strokes. She was not able to communicate very much and she was basically bedridden. I decided to write a book to honor her life.
Shoenthal: One of my favorite lines was, “My mother demonstrated throughout her whole life that if one only persisted, there was no challenge or circumstance that could not be worked out.”
Hirono: She always took a lot of risks. I mean, here she is, not even a high school graduate and she ends up as a proofreader for one of the major English daily newspapers in Hawaii. She was the best proofreader they ever had. She just taught herself phrasing and spelling and everything she could to excel.
She was born in Hawaii, then taken to Japan when she was young, to a country she didn’t know anything about. Then so many years later she brought her children to America, a country we didn’t know anything about. It’s quite a story.
Senator Mazie Hirono
c/o Penguin Random House
Shoenthal: You talk about how most Japanese people, especially women, are perceived as quiet and demure, yet you’re incredibly outspoken. Do you hope that by using your voice to speak out against injustice you’ll inspire others to find their voice?
Hirono: Well, let’s change ‘find your voice’ to ‘use your voice,’ because we all have a voice. I had tremendous determination throughout my political life, but I wasn’t very confrontational or vocally aggressive. It was certainly a journey for me to become more vocal. It’s not my comfort zone. But once you start using that voice, there’s no going back.
Shoenthal: You write so much about your relationships with men – romantic and political. How much of your energy, especially in those early days, went towards working around men’s feelings?
Hirono: I wasn’t necessarily aware that I was the enabler of their ideas at the time. I saw myself as the person who could get things done or bring people together. These men were people who were very supportive of me at first, and then sometimes they weren’t so supportive. They certainly kept me, well, not exactly on an even keel.
This is something I think a lot of women experience. These important figures in our lives, they push us forward and then they yank us back. And at some point we say okay, enough of this.
Shoenthal: You wrote that it takes women seven times to be asked to run for office, but takes men only once to be convinced they should run. So many people tried to talk you out of running in your first statewide race for lieutenant governor, which you ended up winning. How did you maintain that extra conviction to power through when so many were telling you not to?
Hirono: The message was plainly, ‘you won’t succeed, you can’t win.’ I heard quite a lot of that. That was the shared experience of many women of my generation who entered politics. People would say, wait your turn, or, you haven’t done enough yet. Once I made up my mind and made that determination, that was it. I did have people around me who were very supportive, but I’ve always had the naysayers. If I listened to them all the time, I wouldn’t be where I am.
When I say that it takes women a number of times to be urged to run for office, that’s based on studies. I do think that’s starting to change for the better, especially when I think back to the results of the 2018 elections in the US House. We saw some very vocal, articulate, committed, competent women get elected. They stepped up. It took me a lot longer to be like that. So some things have changed. There’s still a lot of sexism in politics though.
Shoenthal: There’s still a lot of sexism everywhere.
Hirono: Any place where power is exercised, yes, there’s generally sexism. Sometimes we don’t recognize it for what it is.
Shoenthal: Racism and discrimination specifically around the Asian-American community is woven into the fabric of our country, from the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act to the rhetoric we’re hearing over 100 years later causing a spike in violence against the AAPI (Asian-American Pacific Islander) community. How do you think the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act will make a significant difference in combating that?
Hirono: Our community is often seen as the other, the perpetual foreigners. This is what led to The Chinese Exclusion Act, then the internment of 20,000 Japanese Americans during World War Two, and then the Muslim ban. So it was really important to the AAPI community to show that the Senate stood with them to condemn these totally unprovoked discriminatory and violent acts. The provisions of the bill will result in more of these crimes and incidents being reported online through the Attorney General’s office, as well as some other bipartisan provisions that were included in the bill.
Of course, we all recognize that just because a bill or an act is done, that doesn’t change the hearts and minds of people who bear animus toward the AAPI community.
There is a lot more that we each can do individually. If we see something happening we should speak up or report it, of course keeping our own safety in mind.
There’s an education that should also be occurring in our schools. People should be taught that there has been so much discrimination, especially among the Black community, especially with the systemic racism that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act and the internment of Japanese Americans. This is all part of our American history. We need to enable everyone to understand that we are a country of diversity. We are a country of many waves of immigrants.
Shoenthal: You and I were both educated in the U.S. so we were taught a pretty whitewashed version of American history. What are you seeing in terms of progress when it comes to public school education?
Hirono: The dominant culture gets to tell its story, and here the dominant culture is the white culture. I hope the curriculum changes, but it takes a long time for textbooks to be republished. While it is true that while we have things such as Japanese Studies or Asian Studies, these are electives. We are still striving to become that country that provides equal opportunity and justice for all. We are not there yet.
Shoenthal: You share many stories of working across the aisle, specifically with people like Lindsay Graham and Jeff Sessions. Doing so seems difficult in an increasingly divisive world, but you did get majority support for the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act. How do you manage these collaborations given today’s heated climate?
Hirono: By finding those issues that also matter to them. Although, I will say, not a single Republican voted for the rescue package in the House or Senate even though it would help millions and millions of people including their own constituents.
I have to be very pragmatic about what times and which issues I choose to work across the aisle. There’s a lot of staff work behind the scenes involved.
If you can believe it, a number of the bills that President Trump signed into law were my bills. Maybe nobody told him that I was the Democratic sponsor.
Shoenthal: What do you feel your responsibility is as one of only two high ranking AAPI senators and the only immigrant currently serving in the U.S. Senate?
Hirono: I certainly identify with the AAPI community because I’m one of them. And I certainly identify with the immigrant experience because these are lived experiences that I bring to the forefront. It’s not as though I want to talk about my family and bring up all that happened. What happened to my sister who died in Japan because of a lack of health care, and my younger brother who was devastated by the separation from my mother when he was only three years old, these are experiences of mine that are relevant to the debate and discussion.
One can have empathy without having to go through these traumas, though. Empathy can be taught. That’s something I would like to see a lot more of.
Shoenthal: You end your book on such a positive note. After all you’ve seen and all you’ve been through, how do you remain positive?
Hirono: Of course there are times when I’m really tired, physically and mentally. People always tell me how they appreciate the way I speak very plainly about what’s going on. Those conversations help me move forward.
I think that if we have some kind of creative and artistic avenue in our lives, that helps. For me, that’s art. I end my book by reflecting on the walks that I would take to the Tidal Basin and the art galleries that I would frequent on the weekends.
One thing I say all the time is this: the battles we thought we had won never stay won. Look at a woman’s right to choose, voting rights, and so on. We just have to keep going. We have to keep showing up. So rejuvenate yourself, do what you need to do, and then get back into the fray.
Shoenthal: Another quote that stuck with me was, “Even through a dark night of a lawless presidency and a deadly pandemic, they never stopped marching for justice. They never stopped dreaming of a world that could be.” What advice do you have for all of the American people to keep that hope alive and to continue the fight for justice?
Hirono: Speak out. Vote, even in the midst of voter suppression efforts. That’s one of the most important things we can do because voting means we get to select the people who are making decisions that impact our lives. There are a lot of people in Congress who do not reflect the will of the people, in my opinion. Raise your voices, stand your ground, speak up for yourself and for others.
I want people to think about a country where there’s far less animosity, divisiveness and hatred. We can all do our part to help make that happen.
Heart of Fire by Mazie Hirono
c/o Penguin Random House
