Mia Yamamoto on race and gender identity

Share: Born in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, Mia Yamamoto knew oppression from the very beginning of her life. “I was born doing time,” she joked. It would seem that she was destined for her life as a criminal defense attorney due to her passion for working to help those whom the rest of society would have given up on. Mia knows about having people give up on you. Her older brother hasn’t spoken to her going on eight years due to …

Blatantly racist: challenging peremptory challenges

Share: Racism will always exist. It will continue to exist so long as humans live as it is natural to differentiate and stereotype. Not all stereotypes are harmful, and not all forms of racism are excessively harmful, but this is not the case in the 1987 trial of Timothy Foster. Foster was tried for the murder of Queen Madge White, a white 79-year-old woman, and was sentenced to death by the jury. However, what is under scrutiny isn’t Foster’s crime—he confessed—but the all-white jury that …