Little Tokyo Intersection Named In Honor Of Civil Rights Chief Rose Ochi – CBS Los Angeles

By Last updated May 5, 2021

LITTLE TOKYO (CBSLA) – The intersection of First and Judge John Aiso Streets in Little Tokyo Tuesday has been renamed Rose Ochi Square in honor of the pioneering Japanese-American civil rights leader.

The intersection of First and Judge John Aiso Streets in Little Tokyo Tuesday has been renamed Rose Ochi Square in honor of the pioneering Japanese-American civil rights leader. (CBSLA)

“Rose Ochi was without a doubt an Angeleno and a Japanese-American civil rights activist,” said Councilor Kevin de León. “While she passed away on December 13th, 2020 last year, her legacy is embedded in the history of our city as well as our state and our nation.”

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Ochi’s widower Tom Ochi and lobbyist Darlene Kuba joined the city council and requested that the intersection be consecrated in Ochi’s honor.

Ochi was born on December 15, 1938 in Boyle Heights. At the age of three, she and her family were transferred to the Santa Anita Detention Center on the orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who approved the detention of more than 120,000 people of Japanese origin. The family lived in Santa Anita for six months before being transferred to Rohwer camp in Arkansas.

After the war, the family returned to Los Angeles, where Ochi graduated from UCLA in 1959 and became a secondary school teacher. Ochi graduated from Loyola Law School in 1972, a career path inspired by the civil rights efforts of the 1960s.

She accepted a fellowship at the USC Western Center on Law and Poverty, where she co-counsel in the landmark Serrano vs. Priest case of the 1970s that forced the state of California to adopt a fairer education funding system.

Ochi then joined Mayor Tom Bradley’s administration as director of the city’s criminal justice office, where she developed the Los Angeles Police Department’s policy on the use of force and advised the mayor on Blake’s decree of approval.

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She also played a pivotal role in efforts to win passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and declare the Owens Valley Manzanar Camp a National Historic Site.

During the Carter administration, Ochi served on the Immigration and Refugee Policy Commission and deputy director of the National Drug Control Policy Office. During the Clinton administration, Ochi served as the U.S. Assistant Attorney General.

More recently, Ochi served on the Los Angeles Police Commission from 2001 to 2005, and subsequently became the first executive director of the California Forensic Science Institute at Cal State University in Los Angeles.

“Our nation is better for its sacrifices and contributions,” said de León. “And the city of angels is proud to call her a cherished daughter.”

Ochi died on December 13th, just two days before her 82nd birthday.

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