~ Visit the official JAMsj website ~

Johnny Cepeda Gogo

Date: January 16, 2023
Interviewer: Ellina Yin & Yvonne Kwan
Interviewee: Johnny Gogo (1968 - )

Judge Gogo is a Judge with the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, located in San Jose, California where he has served since 2019. Previously, Judge Gogo served as a Deputy District Attorney with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office from 2001 to 2019 and from 1999 to 2000. In 2023, President Biden has nominated Judge Gogo to serve as the United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and Northern Mariana Islands.

Transcript of Johnny Cepeda Gogo

Click on any section of the transcript to jump directly to that segment of the video. This feature lets you quickly access the content you're interested in without the need to manually search through the entire video. You can also click on the tick below each transcript to expand the text and read the full content without playing that segment of the video.

Timeframe 0:00 >> 2:38

My legal name is Johnny Cepeda Gogo, and I was actually born in at an Army hospital, United States Army Hospital in Germany, in the town of Landstuhl, Germany because my father was active-duty military at that time. And so that's where I was born.

My father's name is Jesus Crisostomo Gogo. And he was born on the beautiful island of Guam. And my mother's name, Remedios Dydasco Cepeda. And she was also born on the beautiful island of Guam. My father was born, I believe he was… he's passed away since, but I believe he was born in 1938. And my mother was born in 1941, just, just before Guam was invaded by the imperial forces of Japan and before Pearl Harbor was invaded. So she was… the both of them were small children when Guam was occupied by the Japanese military of World War II. My father certainly graduated from high school, I-- I don't know. I'm sure he took some college courses during his time in the military or some advanced education courses, but he never obtained either a junior college or associate's degree, and he did obviously did not obtain a bachelor's degree. So I would have to say his highest level was... highest level of education, was high school graduate. And again, he immediately enlisted into the military and then served just over 20 years in the military. And he he was a very intelligent... service member as he promoted through the ranks and and achieved the highest rank that that that an enlisted person could reach without a college education. And he ultimately retired as a chief warrant officer, too.

And my mother was a high school graduate as well. And then married my father and started the family. And I have an older brother and an older sister, and then I'm the middle child and then have a younger brother and a younger sister.

Timeframe 2:38 >> 4:45

(Interviewer) And how did your parents meet?

They met, I'm going to say, probably met in high school. But, you know, that's a good question. I should have, I should have asked my mother about how they met, but they met when they were young, obviously... And again, my father enlisted in the military. And I think they probably got married shortly thereafter and then started having my siblings shortly after that. So my oldest sibling is my sister Gene, and actually her name is spelled G-E-N-E. And that's-- if you if you hear the name Gene and see that spelling, it's more of the, um, the spelling for the male’s version of Gene. But anyway, she spelled G-E-N-E. Gene Cepeda Gogo, she's the oldest, and she was born in 1962. My older brother's Jesse Crisostomo Gogo, and he was born in 1963, and my older sister was born again on the beautiful island of Guam. My older brother, however, was born in Japan because my father again was already in the military by that time. And he was stationed, my father was stationed in the military in Japan in 1963, when my when my brother, older brother Jesse, was born. And then I come along in 1968 in Germany, my younger brother Jody, J-O-D-Y, Jody Cepeda, also born in Germany in 1969, and then my youngest sister, Jessica. Her middle name is Renee, same last name, Gogo. And she was born 1973 in Kentucky, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Another another one of our military stops, during my father's career.

Joy & Cultural Resistence Timeframe 4:45 >> 11:27

You know, when I was a younger child and we had to move every three years, I, I, I really hated moving, because I got to make friends after three years, some really good friends, and then all of a sudden we're uprooted and we're off to new, new home, new country sometimes, a new military base. And you have to start from scratch in terms of meeting new people, meeting, making new friends, etc. And so as a younger child, I really didn't appreciate and understand that aspect of our life as as a as a young adult, and now as an older adult, I look back on that time as as a fantastic opportunity to visit different countries. For example, I was born in Germany, but we also lived in Japan when I was a small child and we got to experience some of the culture of the Japanese people. And... that's probably where I first developed my love for Japanese food was in Japan, because we would go to the Japanese night markets, we would catch the bullet train, you know, to Tokyo. We would get to play in the, in the Japanese arcades and, and, you know, all the fun stuff that you that you do as a kid. So I have very fond memories of Japan.

And then, you know, we moved back to Guam and so I had the opportunity to spend some time growing up as a child in Guam, you know, which I consider my, my-- we'll always consider my home because both of my parents are from Guam. And again, got to experience living on the island and learning the culture and the customs of of of, you know, being back home in Guam. The Chamorro culture. The native term for Guamanian is Chamorro. And then we also moved-- again we, we were a different military base here in the United States. We were in Alaska for a short period. We were up in... after Alaska, we settled into the Sacramento area for a little bit, and then we moved down to Southern California, the San Bernardino area, for, for a little bit. And then we moved back to Japan. I'm sorry. We moved back to Germany, and again had the experience to live in Europe as a young teenager. And then I forget, my sister, my younger sister was born in Kentucky, so we can't forget living in Kentucky for a little bit, little bit of time.

And so when I reflect on that time period now as an adult, what an incredible opportunity to to visit different parts of the United States in different parts of the world and experience those different cultures. And I-- again, I think one of the positive aspects of of moving every three years is that, I did, or at least for me personally, develop a personality where I am I'm a little more outgoing in and I have no problem going up to people and saying, introducing myself, and asking about them, and kind of making fast friends. And so I think learning about new cultures and and being open minded and being accepting of different people has had a very positive impact on me personally and also professionally. Obviously, some of the negatives where you don't get to build roots in one particular community and when you were growing up and and sometimes you know that-- that has its drawbacks.

But, you know, overall, I'm grateful for the opportunity that my father's career had in terms of taking us around the world. Because if not for, for his military service and our opportunity to move to these different countries, I probably wouldn't have moved there and experienced those cultures, and the people. And, and again, another aspect is I love to travel as much as I can these days, and to visit new countries. And so all in all, I think an overall positive impact, in my opinion. We were able to learn some basic Japanese and you know, as a kid, one of the real basic phrases that we learned was, you know, how much is this item? For example, 'How much is this toy?' or 'How much is this comic book?' And so I you know, I always remember the term 'Ikura' ['how much?'] and, you know-- so we learned little phrases like that as as-- as as we were traveling to the different countries to to try and interact with the locals. You know, in Germany, you know, 'Gutten Tag,' in Guam 'Hafa Adai.' And so we-- because I was a child and it was a long time ago now, a lot of you know the different languages or at least the different phrases and greetings that I knew back then don't come as easily, or readily, but... again, it it opened up my eyes to being again more open and being more flexible, to-- to try and communicate with people and try to understand.

And so actually one of the positives that has on my life now as a judge is that we have people that come into my courtroom where English is not their first language. And so whether it's, you know, Chinese, or whether it's Korean, or whether it's Tagalog, or or Spanish or Vietnamese... You know, I have a greater appreciation, understanding of of, you know, understanding that the English may not be their first language. And so we need to have interpreters or translators help them in the system. And in that process of using translators and interpreters, we have to be patient so that words can be properly translated, meanings can be properly translated to to the litigants that come into my courtroom.

Narrative & Identity Timeframe 11:27 >> 14:10

Guam will always be home no matter where I am living in the world, whether it's in the United States or Europe or Asia. Guam will always be home, and... and, you know, primarily, obviously, because my parents are both Guamanian and their parents, my grandparents were Guamanian. But it's also, again, where I spent time growing up as a small child. And so I learned the Chamorro customs of respect for the elders... Guam was originally colonized by Spain and remained a Spanish colony for for, you know, a few, a few centuries before the United States took possession of Guam after the Spanish-American War. And so there's a lot of Spanish customs that are still present in the Chamorro culture, including the Catholic religion. And so I grew up as a Catholic, being raised Catholic, and I was an altar boy when I was a younger child. You know, my parents were devout Catholics, very religious. My older brother and older sister, still to this day, are very involved in church. For me, I think there was a little bit of of a fallout, probably because we moved around after I was a small child.

We left Guam and we didn't come back to Guam. Actually, my family settled in the United States, and I've been the only one that has made the attempt to go back to Guam and live there permanently. But also, you know, because because of my college background and law school background and in legal career, I just haven't been as active in the in the Catholic Church as my older brother and older sister. But I still believe in some of the, you know, basic tenets of fairness and and treating people with respect and love and kindness. But, you know... because we moved off of the island, I didn't learn the language, the Chamorro language. I'm not well versed in the Chamorro language compared to if I had lived there all my life, I probably would be fluent in Chamorro as well as English. And so I will always have the longing to return back home to Guam and and continue with some of the customs and traditions of the... of the Chamorro people.

Systems & Power Timeframe 14:10 >> 16:52

A lot of people don't know, one, where Guam is, and then two, they don't know that Guam, in terms of its political status, is a U.S. territory, an unincorporated U.S. territory. And what that means today is that Guam is considered United States soil. So anybody born on Guam is a United States citizen. But because Guam is not a state and it's, again, a trust territory of the United States, there are certain rights and privileges that that don't apply to the citizens of Guam. The most glaring right that does not apply is the people of Guam, or the citizens of Guam, those that are registered on Guam as voters, don't get-- they don't have a vote for the President of the United States. They don't have any United States senators. Guam has a congressional delegate, but it's a nonvoting delegate to the United States House of Representatives. And so they have somebody that can voice their concerns in the congressional delegate. But that congressional delegate, again, does not get to vote on any matters coming out of the House, the United States Congress. And so, again, there are arguments back and forth about whether Guam should remain as a territory or seek its own independent political status from the United States.

And so, again, because Guam is so-- is such a small, tiny island in the Pacific, and the Pacific is such a vast, large ocean with with a lot of larger islands, yes, a lot of people don't know about Guam. And so it is part of helping educate the community, which is one of the reasons why I try to do as much as I can in the community and also share with people that I'm, that I am from Guam, and try to tell them a little bit about the Guamanian heritage and Chamorro culture. So it is about education and awareness, which is similar to most of our issues that that involve our Asian Pacific Islander, Asian Pacific American communities.

Timeframe 16:52 >> 20:15

Because we grew up in different parts of the world, and this was before the age of the internet and, and video games that kept you indoors, and kept you kind of isolated, if you will. We would go out to visit the different towns and cities in the different countries that we were visiting or staying in as part of my dad's military service. And so, again, I have great memories about Japan and again, riding, taking the bullet trains, visiting Tokyo, and visiting Tokyo Tower in—and at least from a distance, enjoying Mount Fuji. And we would go into the, to to the to the different stores in Japan and different night markets. And so again very fond memories of traveling to different parts of Japan.

Same thing with Germany. I had the opportunity to to-- again, this was during the timeframe when Germany was divided between East Germany, and primarily a communist controlled East Germany, versus West Germany, which was more of a Western influence in West Germany. And so I had the opportunity when we were living in West Germany to travel through East Germany by train to visit Berlin. And again, just a fascinating learning experience about Germany. And one of the, obviously one of the great things about being in Europe is you can visit other European cities and at that time I was in high school taking French and with my French class, we took a weeklong trip to Paris. And so that was my first exposure to to Paris. And again, an incredible opportunity. And visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre.

And so, again, visiting these different countries, we had the opportunity to to get out and about. Fond memories of our time in Alaska, because I'd never been in, in, in, in kind of the woods or the forest, in the wildlife that they have up in Alaska, and and the land of the midnight sun when you're up there in the summertime where the sun is up 24 hours and you don't you don't know when to go to bed, as a kid, you're like, 'The sun's still up! I still want to play!' Again, great experiences visiting and exploring the… the forests and the woods and the rivers of Alaska. So again, that's what we did for fun as as as a family, as kids. We got out and explored and and experienced the culture and experience the people. And, you know, again, thank God we didn't have video games that kept us in all the time, or, or social media that kept us just glued on our phones, and forced us to get out and about and explore and appreciate the world.

Timeframe 20:15 >> 22:07

So yes, I do have some memories of, of watching television as a child. Sometimes we had we only had a black and white television, and this was before the days of, you know, the big cable companies, where you could watch a variety of channels at variety, you know, any hour of the day, etc... You know, some of the shows that I remember watching as a child that I appreciated were, you know, The Jeffersons, and, you know, watching George Jefferson, you know, and an African American black family existing at that time in, in New York City, and watching Good Times with J.J. And, you know, those were those are some of the comedy shows that I remember.

And I didn't see necessarily any Asian Pacific Islander shows. But again, fortunately, I grew up a little bit as a child in Japan and and experienced some of the Japanese cartoons, and... you know, some of the Japanese superhero characters, like the Gojira [Godzilla in Japanese] and the Speed Racer cartoon series. And so those were some of the shows that I have memories of as a kid growing up. And, you know, any time I see those reruns, it brings me back to those, to those fond memories.

Timeframe 22:07 >> 26:40

The elementary school that I attended while I was out on Guam was called C.L. Taitano, or C, like Charlie, L like Linda, Taitano, elementary School. And that was in my hometown, or home village of Sinajana. S-I-N-A-J-A-N-A. Sinajana, Guam. So that was the elementary school that I that I attended while I was, while we were living on Guam, the elementary school that I that I remember in Japan was Sagami-- Sagami Hara Elementary School. And when we were... when I was, let's see, we came back to California for a little bit of my middle school.

And so in Marysville, just north of Sacramento, I attended, I believe, I believe it was called McKinley Junior High School. And then we then we got orders to move down to Southern California. And so we were in the San Bernardino area and attended into Curtis Junior High School in San Bernardino. And my freshman year of high school was also in San Bernardino, and that was at Pacific High School. And then we moved to Germany, uh, again for my dad's military service. And I went to my sophomore year of high school, was at Hanau American High School, and then we moved back to California in my junior and senior year of high school, were spent in Sacramento again, and this time I ended up graduating from Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento.

After high school in Sacramento, I attended Sacramento City College for about two and a half years before traveling down to Riverside, Southern California, and attending Riverside City College for a year. After Riverside, I transferred to UC San Diego, and spent two and a half years at UC San Diego, graduated with a bachelor's in political science. And by then I knew I was going to head towards law school. So I majored in political science and United States history, and... these days they call it 'gap years'. I took two years off to because I was working full time, primarily, during college and going to school full time. Most of the time that I was, kind of burnt out and being full time in both areas, and I just decided I needed to take a break from school and just work full time.

And so I took two years off to work and pay down some some college loans and started law school in San Diego at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and graduated approximately three years later. I graduated in '96 from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and then immediately moved out to Guam to start my career as a prosecutor with the local Attorney General's office on Guam, and stayed out there as a prosecutor for for about a year and a half before coming back to California. And... I ultimately got a job as a prosecutor here in San Jose at the Santa Clara County DA's office, decided to move back to Guam after my first year and joined a civil law firm back on Guam, and left the civil firm after a year, came back to California, and spent the next 19 years at the... back here at the San Jose Santa Clara County DA's office, before Governor Newsom appointed me to the bench in 2019. I was officially sworn in, took the oath of office December 6, 2019, and just celebrated my three-year anniversary on the bench.

Timeframe 26:40 >> 32:26

So in college, because I spent my time at three different colleges as we sit here today, the only professor that I can remember from my college days was Professor Peter Irons down at UC San Diego. And I remember Peter Irons because, primarily because of his work on transcribing the audiotapes from oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court. It wasn't until later in my legal career, and primarily as part of the flag signing project, that I learned of Professor Peter Irons' work with Dale Minami and in in the legal team on the Coram Nobis cases to help overturn the convictions of Fred Korematsu and and and the others. But Professor Irons is the professor that I remember from UC San Diego. Unfortunately, I just don't remember the names of my other professors from the other colleges and...

You asked me or there was a question, I think, about maybe some some high school teachers. I remember my English professor or my English teacher in Germany, professor or-- Mr. Claussen, who, you know, just had a very long reading list of some of the classics in literature that that we were going to be assigned to read over the course of the school year. One of the books that I remember was George Orwell's 1984. And there were, you know, other classics, Catcher in the Rye. But I remember Professor Clausson because he also challenged us to to think beyond high school... and Professor Clausson also had us start a kind of a pen pal program with American prisoners in Germany, or United States prisoners, U.S. citizens, who were imprisoned in Germany for different offenses, whether they were military people who, who had run afoul of German law, or U.S. nationals who run, you know, who run run afoul of German law. For whatever reason, they were incarcerated in Germany and Professor Clausson started a pen pal writing program of some of our students for this program. And I remember, I obviously had to get the permission of my parents, and thankfully they gave permission. But we-- Professor Clawson and I took a trip to visit one of the prisoners, one of the American prisoners in the German prison. And, you know, I remember that experience primarily because visiting the German prison was unlike anything that I had seen on TV in terms of how U.S. prisons are depicted on TV and in the movies. There wasn't, you know, I don't remember, you know, prisoners being segregated. I don't remember, once were within the prison, that there was a lot of kind of security that needed to be taken amongst the prisoners. They they were allowed to really kind of live like as if they were in a dorm, as opposed to a prison, though certainly they were incarcerated, and they couldn't leave. But I don't think that they were in cells necessarily with, with, with bars. Again, it was more of a kind of an apartment or dorm style. And so that was there.

That was one of the differences that I remember. But that experience of meeting somebody incarcerated would later have an effect on me in terms of wanting to pursue a legal career. And I thought when I started my my law school career, I was going to be a defense attorney, right. Because I wanted to be able to help those that were facing charges and help protect their constitutional rights and help keep them from being put in jail or prison or being incarcerated. So that was one of the early experiences that I had in and... in high school. Some of my teachers that I that I remember in elementary school in Guam, Mrs. Sablan, who for whatever reason, her name still sticks with me in this probably the only the name that comes to the top of my mind right now. I remember some of my coaches, Coach Johnson, out of... in Hanau American high school but yeah so those are the names of the of the instructors that I remember from college and high school and elementary school.

Timeframe 32:26 >> 35:40

So yeah, I was an active child In terms of sports, again, these were the days before video, home video games and the Internet. And so I got out and about and explored nature and explored the athletic fields. And so I played, you know, every sport there was; soccer, basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, um, track for a little bit. But my, my love, my, my, my, the, the sport that I loved the most was football. And I, you know, wanted to to get a college scholarship, so that way my college would be paid for. I wanted to get an athletic scholarship to play football. And then, you know, I wanted to go play professional football when I was a child. Unfortunately for me, I never really grew past, kind of my high school days. And so I only grew to about 5'9", which is not that tall when it, you know, in football and or basketball. And I never was able to put on the-- the heavy weight that you needed to to really put on to to get to the, you know even the junior college level, much much less a four-year college level to play football. And, plus, what I also learned very quickly and when I was in high school was that, you know, although I would I was you know, I was... for high school, you know, I was fast enough and could tackle well enough. But when you put me up against bigger, stronger players, I would kind of bounce off of them. And I do also remember sometimes the collisions with other football players were so intense and so, you know, with such force that sometimes I would wake, I would get back up, get up off the ground, and my head would be spinning. And in back then they called it getting your bell rung. These days, it's a concussion. And although I didn't know the medical term of concussion, concussion, I knew more of the athletic term getting your bell rung. What I did understand was that I couldn't continue to put myself in that position of of getting my bell rung, because I knew that, somehow, you know, if I continued to do that, the-- that would take a toll on my body and and on my, on my my head, my brain. And so I quickly made the decision that after high school, that was going to be the end of my football career. I was going to have to focus on more on academics to get me through life as opposed to athletic scholarships and athletic talent.

Timeframe 35:40 >> 38:48

So when I was a small child, my father instilled in me that I needed to, to get an education. And I think he instilled that in me because he didn't get his education. He was, I mean, in terms of college. He's a high school graduate and, enlisted straight into the military. And then, you know, with the family, you had to support the family. And although, again, he advanced in his career, but he was limited because he didn't have a college background, a college education. And so I think he understood that and saw younger soldiers, who had their college backgrounds, advanced farther, you know, ahead of him and and further than him. And so he instilled, at least in me, certainly me and my all of my siblings, the importance of getting a college education. And he also kind of planted the seed that that, you know, I should consider a career as a doctor or as a lawyer or as an engineer. So those are the, kind of the three things that were kind of rattling him around in my mind, after I became a professional football player. So, again, once the professional football player dream died, then I knew I was going to focus on education.

And fortunately for me, I also, my peers in high school were in... I hung around API students, APA students, and most of them were smarter than me. And so, being a competitive person, I didn't want to be left behind academically from my peers. And so I knew that I had to put my time in studying and doing my homework and being prepared to kind of keep up with my colleagues. And I think ultimately when I started junior college and tried to focus on, you know, what courses and classes I wanted to take, I was drawn more towards history classes, drawn more towards political science classes. And so then I kind of figured out I probably will go to law school and so I started to explore what, what I needed to do to prepare for law school and and so that's kind of how that started in. And I ultimately graduated again with the political science degree. But I along the line, along the way, I took courses in legal history, United States legal history, and that just kind of cemented the plan to go to law school. Now, again, when I-- when I did go to law school, I had the plans on being a criminal defense attorney or a public defender, but I also had the plans on being my own practitioner.

Systems & Power Timeframe 38:48 >> 43:39

And so that was kind of my combination of of a of a career in law and then being my own businessman. And so, that was my, my, my business plan as well, to open up my own practice. My own law office. And in terms of opening up my own law office and a business plan, I was also going to be a personal injury lawyer and I was planning to have big commercials on TV saying, you know, I have my clients or actors say, 'My attorney, Johnny Gogo got me $1.5 million as a result of my, you know, my car collision or my my, my negligence lawsuit.' And so I was planning to have those commercials on TVs. I was going to have billboards signs. I was going to have signs on bus stops and do all that type of advertising.

But then when I started law school, my first year of law school, I did well academically, and that opened up an opportunity to do an internship at the United States Attorney's office in San Diego. And I didn't know anything about the United States Attorney's office, but school officials made it seem like it was a big deal to get an internship there. And it was primarily because my grades qualified me for, you know, to apply in the first place. So I applied wanting to to expand my my experience and, and knowledge base. And when I started my internship at the U.S. Attorney's office, I was assigned to the violent trial unit, violent trials. And I ended up being assigned to a group of very talented and very intelligent, hardworking prosecutors.

And one of the cases that I was assigned to was a case where the U.S. Attorney's office was prosecuting a federal law enforcement officer for violating the civil rights of somebody that that officer had detained and was in custody. And if I my memory serves me, the person that was detained initially had fled, you know, from the officers. And so there was a, you know, a pursuit. And then there may have been a struggle once they went, you know, with the officers, once they caught him. But according to some of the officers who wrote reports, once the detainee was was on the ground and in his handcuffs were on him, and he was no longer resisting, allegedly, you know, one of the other law enforcement officers continued to use excessive force, either punching or kicking the suspect who was already subdued. And so that was one of the cases that was being prosecuted. And again, I was just a first-year law student, didn't know anything about criminal prosecution.

But what I did learn was that it doesn't matter who you are; if you violate the law, then, you know, if it was the right thing to file a criminal charge against you and prosecute you, then that's what a good prosecutor would do. And so that kind of flipped the switch in my mind because I wanted to now do the right thing. And I wanted-- I was inspired by these prosecutors and inspired by by their willingness to hold those in power accountable. And so from then on, I started to do internships at prosecutor's offices while I was still in law school, with the goal of being a prosecutor myself. And ultimately, after graduating from law school, I did go back to Guam as a prosecutor. And then came back to California and became a deputy district attorney, a prosecutor, a local prosecutor, here in Santa Clara County. And truly, one of the... I was honored to be a prosecutor and to represent the people of our community, and primarily help crime victims in our community. And so that's how I made the switch from the mindset of being wanted to be a public defender, a criminal defense attorney, and a personal injury lawyer, to now becoming a prosecutor.

Timeframe 43:39 >> 46:10

(Interviewer) In a different life of you might have been Anh Phoong.

Yes, yes. Something wrong? Call me, Anh Phoong. Yeah, that could have been me. And ironically enough, I just met her a little bit in Sacramento, because speaking of APAs and APIs, Sacramento County elected their first Asian American district attorney. A friend of mine, Thien Ho, who was a Vietnamese immigrant, and his family, had fled Vietnam during the end of the, you know, the Fall of Saigon. His family fled the... I believe they took a fishing boat without authorization. And their large family and other family members, other community members, filled up this this boat and fled Vietnam. And ultimately, Thien and his family came to the United States, and Tien did not know how to speak English as a child and grew up here in San Jose, ultimately went to law school at McGeorge in Sacramento and spent the most of-- the majority of his career as a prosecutor in Sacramento County DA's office and... made history by being the first Asian American elected in a major county, a large county here in the state of California. And so he was sworn in as the District Attorney on January 3rd of this year, 2023. So just a couple of weeks ago. And in the audience was our friend, my friend Anh Phoong. Yes. 'Something wrong? Call me!' Anh Phoong, who has their billboards and commercials on TV, has a personal injury lawyer. So, yes, she's living the career that I wanted originally. I'm very happy with with how my career has turned out. But yes, it's probably makes a lot more money than... [laughter] so her business plan is working out for her.

Systems & Power Timeframe 46:10 >> 51:04

The legal system in the United States is kind of our our basic foundation for our government, for our organized in civilized society. If we didn't have our system of laws, then we would probably have more chaos. We probably have more victims than we already do. We would-- we would have more lawlessness if you will. So again, our system here in the United States, while certainly needs improvement, is probably better than a lot of systems in the world, where students do have the right to protest and be activists and to go out and petition for changes in the law. And that's, I think, one of the beautiful things of our country is that we where we respect those rights. Whereas, you know, again, you compare us to Russia, and they don't have the rights that to protest. When they do protest, they get shut down very quickly by by the government in Russia and in other countries. And so, you know, we're not perfect.

But I do believe, having been in the system as long as I have, I believe our system is is one of the best in the world. And I would encourage students to continue to look to ways to improve and change the law, whether it's through, again, protests when they see something wrong or whether it's through different ways of being an activist and petitioning their local leaders or their national leaders, but also learning about the law, whether it's going to law school or just learning U.S. legal history, learning about the Constitution. We need those students to engage and become educated and become aware. But we also need those students to go to law school and become lawyers, young lawyers, because once upon a time I was a young lawyer. I'm no longer a young lawyer, I'm a young judge, but I'm probably not going to be a young judge in in a number of years from now.

And so we we constantly need to recruit new talent, diverse talent, intelligence, but hard working, reasonable young minds, young students. And so I like to do outreach myself at the high school level with our high school Mock Trial program here in Santa Clara County, and then encouraging students while they're in undergraduate or the college years, and then supporting them when they're in law school. And when they graduate and take the bar exam, they become young lawyers. For me, I've always-- and many others that I work with, especially in trying to create a more diverse and more inclusive legal community. We're constantly doing outreach to, you know, the Asian American, Asian Pacific Islander community, the Hispanic community, the African American community, you know, the communities of color, because we need to have that diversity. And we're fortunate, even though, again, we still have many improvements to do in our great state of California, I'd rather be living in California than other states here in here, in in our in our union. Where, you know, just this morning we're talking here on Martin Luther King Jr Day.

And I was watching a TV show on this morning where they were interviewing Martin Luther King Jr’s children. And while they were saying that much progress has been made, they still can't believe here in 2023 that their children were born with more rights than than certain citizens in particular Georgia have today in 2023. A lot of states arguably having been engaged in voter suppression. And thank goodness we don't have that issue of voter suppression here in our state of California. But that that doesn't mean we can become complacent. We still need to educate students about their rights and encourage those that are willing to to do so to go to law school and become young lawyers so that they can help improve our society.

Timeframe 51:04 >> 53:04

Being in the law and knowing about family law and the statistics that, you know, approximately 50% of marriages end up in divorce and having experienced my brothers going through their multiple divorces, made me gun shy about about about the legal institution of marriage. And so I remain unmarried, no children, but my brothers and sisters, my two brothers, my two sisters combined, I think there's approximately 15 or 16 nieces and nephews that I have. So I-- you know, when they're when they were children, I would spoil them all the time. Now, most of them are young adults, and so they have to fend for themselves. But I probably-- you know, I I've got to be the favorite uncle, because nobody my other brothers and siblings and my other siblings can't be the favorite uncle because they've got to tend to their own children. And so I'm the one that that kind of takes an interest in the... in my nieces and nephews, especially those that are still in high school and in college, kind of encouraging them to to to, continue on their education path and, you know, as a matter of fact, I over Christmas, I sent the majority of my nieces and nephews, some, you know, some really special gifts. And they live in different parts of the country. And, you know, it's just neat for me, not having my own kids, to take pride in in how they're growing up and sharing some of their trials and tribulations with them. But yeah, that's, that's my status. Uh, at this point.

Timeframe 53:04 >> 54:53

So as a judge, it's been a little different during the pandemic. And most of my career, my three-year career has been under the pandemic. So we've had to change the way we we operate a little bit. But as you know, the vaccines have become more readily available. We're starting to to to try to get back to full strength and full capacity, if you will, in terms of personnel. We still have a few vacancies of judges that have retired that have not yet been filled. And from what I'm hearing about our personnel, we still have vacancies in our staff that need to be filled before we can get back all of our courtrooms up and running, as they were before the pandemic. But we still, you know, we follow the county guidelines in terms of the health requirements and health measurements, in terms of masking. As you know, it's recommended, but not mandatory for folks to where to wear masks indoors. Me personally, I still wear a mask on my bench, but I don't require my litigants to wear masks. I don't require my my staff or my my bailiffs, my sheriff's deputies to wear masks. But me personally, I wear a mask because I hear the news on TV and on the radio and in the newspapers that we're still on COVID, still present. And so I just try to do my part to to remain responsible, even though I am fully vaccinated and got my flu shots. I still don't want to, you know, be exposed to it if I can if I can prevent it. So I wear my masks.

Systems & Power Timeframe 54:53 >> 60:00

Day to day, you know, the last couple of years I've been handling domestic violence and family violence and criminal cases. And that's always a sad caseload because you have family members, primarily boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives or exes... And it's primarily in our society, the men are still the primary perpetrators of violence, and in particular, our domestic violence cases. The main victims are the female partners. And so that's been my main caseload over the last two years. We have--unfortunately, we have a very heavy caseload here in Santa Clara County on the domestic violence. And even though we pour a lot of resources into advocacy for for victims and counseling classes for the perpetrators, there's still a lot of unfortunate, unfortunately, a lot of domestic violence that occurs in our, in our county. So that's been my day-to-day operations over the last two years. Every year we have a rotation of judges.

This year, I'm now rotating out of our domestic violence, family violence assignment, and I'm rotating to our general felony trial assignment, where I'll be handling, um, felony trials that are not domestic violence or family violence cases. So, your robberies, your homicides, your driving under the influence felony cases, those sorts of of criminal cases. The the the trend of domestic violence, if you will, is that domestic violence cuts across all boundaries, all classes, all ethnicities. Domestic violence is primarily perpetrated by men against their... generally their female partners. And... what we see is a lot of drugs and alcohol in these cases, that impairs the judgment, if you will, of the perpetrators. But we also see in these domestic violence cases, arguments about finances, arguments about family, arguments about infidelity. And then again, when you couple that with drugs and alcohol, you do see the domestic violence, the family violence. And so those aren't necessarily trends. Those are just common themes or threads throughout these domestic violence cases. But I've, you know, prosecuted domestic violence cases here in the United States. I prosecuted domestic violence cases when I was a prosecutor in Guam. And I've been fortunate to travel to Europe to participate in trainings and workshops on domestic violence. And and so, again, domestic violence again cuts across all demographics, all ethnicities. It doesn't matter if you're rich. It doesn't matter if you're poor, it doesn’t matter if you're well-resourced, you're going to have domestic violence cases and again, the Bay Area, we have the resources to help both sides, right?

We have the resources to provide emergency shelter and counseling and support to victims of domestic violence to to try to help them get away and stop the violence. We have resources to help those perpetrators that have drugs and alcohol and mental health issues, anger management issues. And we can-- we know, we can put the perpetrators on a time out by putting them into custody for or, you know, for a period of time, an appropriate period of time. But we still have domestic violence cases, just like any other community throughout the United States, throughout the world. And, you know, and again, unfortunately, in Santa Clara County, we still and then in the Bay Area, we still have very serious and very violent domestic violence cases that result in-- in homicides and murders. And so we we still need to just to continue to to do the outreach and education, which will hopefully cut down on it. And that's that's-- you know, that's going to be the goal.

Joy & Cultural Resistence Timeframe 60:00 >> 1:03:42

You know, I was a prosecutor for 20 plus years and now I'm a criminal judge for the last three years. And so the nature of of criminal work is, is, is is sad in and of itself. Right. Because you're you're dealing with folks that are being accused of committing crimes, whether it's crimes against property or crimes against persons. You know, you're still dealing with those that are accused of doing something wrong and, and in-- when it involves domestic violence and you see victims that are particularly vulnerable in, you know, again, primarily the female victims. And you see these cases over and over again, you can start to suffer secondary trauma, if you will. It's kind of like secondhand smoke. We, in the courtroom, also have to suffer through reading, through these allegations and the police reports and seeing these videos on screen and listening to these panicked 911 calls. So those-- that's hard.

And in order to kind of survive in this in this line of work, you do have to take breaks. You do you do have to kind of rotate out of the assignment to kind of catch your breath and you do need to step away from the work. And whether, whether it's getting your exercise, or taking trips, you need to decompress and you need to unplug and... and understand that there's obviously much, much more to life than than just handling your criminal caseload. And so that's kind of my mindset is I know... I've been able to, in my career, separate work from from, you know, my general life, if you will. Able to have a proper work-life balance. But that you still have to be intentional about that, because the work can certainly take its toll If you are not aware, and you don't take time for self-care. So I know those types of services are provided to our judges and staff and employees. I haven't you know, knock on wood, I haven't had to yet avail myself of any counseling services. But I've always been again, we talked about me being an active kid in terms of sports. And so I've always been able to to kind of work out some stress and frustrations by getting to the gym or getting out for a run or going out for a hike.

And then again, it's also about, for me, my love of travel and getting out of getting out of, you know, the Bay Area, whether it's going down to beautiful San Diego for for a weekend or visiting other friends and families in different states or again, traveling to different countries. So, yes, it is kind of an individual priority in terms of self-care. Other, you know, different people have different ways of dealing with stress. But ultimately, we do need to have an outlet, whatever that outlet may be, to again, release that stress and not... not have it kept within within us so that it builds up.

Systems & Power Timeframe 1:03:42 >> 1:05:35

(Interviewer) Were there any times you felt that your background affected any of your access to education, work or other opportunities?

So and that's a fantastic question. And again, I tried to look back on my life as a whole because obviously I've seen people experience and talk about their lives and and talk about some discrimination that has taken place in their lives. And for me, when I look back on my life and again, growing, living in different parts of the country, living in different parts of the world, I haven't yet noticed any overt discrimination or racism against me, particularly. Not that it's, that it's not there. Maybe, maybe sometimes folks have made comments that maybe I've blown off, or decided not to engage because if I did engage, then then maybe things could escalate in and get worse. But even though I may not have personally experienced any discrimination or racism on my own part, I know that it's out there. I know it exists and so I try to help educate our community. I try to help support my colleagues and friends and family that experience, you know, any discrimination or racism and and be an ally to those organizations that do again, provide outreach and education, and support, to and discrimination and racism.

Narrative & Identity Timeframe 1:05:35 >> 1:07:56

You know, I proudly associate with API, APA groups, right? The Asian Pacific Islander or Asian Pacific American groups. I am a Pacific Islander or a Pacific American. So the way I look at it is, I'm the representative of the PI portion of API or I'm the representative of the PA portion of the APA community. And yes, there are some negatives in terms of lumping all of the groups together, but you just have to be mindful about that. And when appropriate, recognize that and and if appropriate, again, address that, that issue. Certainly, the Pacific Islander population, the Pacific American population, as a percentage, is, is much smaller than, let's just say, the Japanese American population or the Korean American population or the Chinese American population. But there are some positives in, in kind of banding together in the power of group or a group group association, if you will, and and as a group, you know, some positive strides can be made. And again, I'm-- me personally, I don't have any issues with being part of the APA or API groups. I know that there are some in the Pacific Islander community or Pacific American community that argue, you know, we need to be separated. The PIs and PAs need to be separated. I just continue to to try and support everyone as a whole. And then individually, if I notice that, you know, Pacific Islander or Pacific American representation is, is not is not present, then then that's an opportunity for me to step in and be that representative or for others to be there to be the representatives. And so I understand the arguments, I understand the positions. I think that as a group and as a whole, we can we can probably effectuate much more change and much more progress together.

Transformation & Change Timeframe 1:07:56 >> 1:13:14

(Interviewer) And just very recently, Governor Lujan Gayle, in a letter to President Biden, had recommended you for an appointment to a U.S. attorney overseeing Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. So first, congratulations.

Thank you. Yes, it's very exciting. Yes.

(Interviewer) Second, how do you feel about this possibility?

It would be an absolute honor for me to go back home to Guam and the Marianas Islands, to be the United States attorney. When I was a local prosecutor here in Santa Clara County, I always kind of envisioned going back home to Guam and being a federal prosecutor out on Guam, being part of the U.S. attorney's office out on Guam. After I finished my career as a prosecutor and became a judge here in Santa Clara County, that was a dream job for me as well. And so I was very excited, very thrilled. And I love being a judge here in Santa Clara County. But when I was talking to some of the leaders back home on Guam, the possibility of the U.S. attorney position came up during some discussions and... And I thought I would go ahead and submit an application to the governor of Guam. And... and she interviewed me amongst four or five other candidates and, ultimately, the governor told me that she wanted to recommend me to the President of the United States. And so that was a huge honor in and of itself to be recommended to the president of the United States, President Biden, to be the U.S. attorney. And I think that was originally in February of 2021. So we're now fast approaching February of 2023. So it's been about two years that the recommendation will be, have been with the White House and, you know, every every day is is is a an important day to try to get some work done as the U.S. attorney for Guam in the Northern Marianas Islands.

And so while I was hoping that an appointment could have been made somewhere within that two year period, we're still waiting to hear back from the President. And... so we remain hopeful and excited because I think that if I were to become the U.S. attorney, on one hand, there would be some programs that I think could be easily implemented to help build some trust with the local community, built some trust and confidence, and then, you know, perception wise, it would also be a very much a positive thing to have a... some kind of local representation, if you will, A Chamorro, a Pacific American and Pacific Islander be the United States attorney for Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands. And so there are many reasons that I think that I am very well qualified and would do a fantastic job as the U.S. attorney.

And so one of the unfortunately, one of the big problems for Guam and in the Northern Marianas Islands, and it's a big problem for Guam and Northern Marianas Islands, but it's also a big issue throughout the United States is, you know, the issue of narcotics, and, and drug addiction and drug abuse and drug trafficking. And so that's, you know, as as that's one of the issues that needs to be addressed and is being addressed. But I think I might be able to bring a kind of a different perspective, you know, certainly different energy to to that issue. Human trafficking is also a problem for Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands. Unfortunately, another area that's an issue is, is, government corruption. And so, you know, primarily, you know, when I put on a prosecutor's hat, those would be three issues that, that I would, that I would address immediately.

And then there's the issue of of outreach to the local communities on Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands. And I think that more engagement with the local community, you know, if it's a positive engagement, builds trust, it builds confidence. And I think that that's important. And in order for the local communities, the local populations to, you know, have some some belief that that they can again trust and have confidence in the local leadership there. And so those are some of the issues that, that I would... if I were, you know, to be fortunate to be the U.S. attorney would address immediately.

Systems & Power Timeframe 1:13:14 >> 1:17:17

(Interviewer) So throughout your your judgeship and law career, you've championed issues such as youth advancement and secure justice for undocumented immigrants, and address drug and gang violence. Can you speak about the inspiration behind this work and these issues and why they were important to you?

Yeah. And so again, it starts with, you know, my, my visit as a high school sophomore in Germany with Professor Claussen-- er, Mr. Classen. I want to call him Professor Claussen, but he was just Mr. Classen. And maybe he's a professor now. But you know, being exposed to to visiting somebody incarcerated and learning about that person as a human, certainly opened my eyes to those that are incarcerated in being empathetic and sympathetic to that situation. And, and certainly in law school, meeting with different individuals and being supportive of different organizations that engage in that type of outreach as well. In those, in those areas that you mentioned, also helped kind of plant the seeds in my mind about the different types of work that I could engage in. And then... being part of the district attorney's community prosecution unit, where I was, where I was, specifically, working one on one with families, and in particular, youth who were who were, you know, not in schools.

And so they're-- if you're not in school or, you know, what are you doing with your time, are you engaging in something productive? Or more likely, are you engaging in something that's not productive and-- and something that's maybe a little more harmful to the community? And so I was, you know, I became much more exposed to those issues. I was-- I was allowed by the district attorney here in Santa Clara County, Jeff Rosen, to be embedded in the community and and working with different community-based organizations and, and different religious or church-based organizations to help address those needs of, of, of the more youthful members of our community and in turn helping their families address needs. Whether you know it's-- it's poverty or or otherwise. Again you you understand that you're dealing with humans and you can't help but in that position to, to be empathetic and sympathetic. And that also, again, further cemented the idea in my mind that there's a lot more that can be done in terms of being a prosecutor than just charging individuals with crimes and and probing up the evidence in a criminal trial and in asking judges and juries to find, you know, defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Certainly that's, that's the, that's the primary job of a prosecutor is to-- is to be able to take cases to trial and present evidence to convince a jury of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. But then you can also engage the community in many other different ways to help build trust and faith and confidence in in in the work that you're doing, and to get them to to see that you're trying to help the community on, on a different level, addressing different issues. And so, my work as a community prosecutor also informs me today as well.

Joy & Cultural Resistence Timeframe 1:17:17 >> 1:21:31

(Interviewer) How have you built bridges with leaders in Santa Clara County across different communities, so African American/black communities, native communities, Latinx communities, other Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

So, you know, when I-- when I reflect upon on that question, then it all starts again, back probably back in high school, where I was an active member in the student government and in particular, I was an active member of what we call the ACC, the Asian Culture Club in in at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento. And and so again, I was part of the API APA outreach as early as high school, and you know, when you when you play sports whether it's football, basketball, baseball, soccer, generally, at least here in California, you're exposed to people from different ethnicities and different backgrounds. And so my teammates were, you know, Caucasian. They were African American, they were Asian, they were, you know, Hispanic, Mexican American. And so I had that ability to to build relationships and, and build friendships with people outside of my own particular ethnicity or or background. And then, you know, that just kind of carries through when I was in law school and again, being a part of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, understanding that there is also the Black Law Students Association, the La Raza lawyers, the La Raza Students Association. And so I've always kind of been aware, and cognizant, and supportive of, you know, the different minority organizations that, that are out there. And again, it continued past law school until my career as a prosecutor, in particular here in Santa Clara County, where I was very involved with the the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Silicon Valley, very involved with the La Raza Lawyers Association of Santa Clara County, and kind of through that work also kept in touch with with our Santa Clara County Black Lawyers Association.

So that's always been part of my... my overall kind of growth and experience. And that just kind of continued to grow throughout my career as a lawyer and understanding the need for diversity in in the in the, ranks of prosecutor offices and the ranks of government offices as a whole or in general. And so, I've always again, been, more of a collaborator with different organizations wanting to make sure that there is representation, certainly from the APA, API community, but also the Hispanic community, the African American community, because there is, in my opinion, there is strength in diversity. Diversity of thoughts, diversity of experience, diversity of backgrounds, diversity of practice, that just builds strength. And, and so, I've always wanted to be a part of that and an advocate for that and support that.

Systems & Power Timeframe 1:21:31 >> 1:25:12

(Interviewer) So, you know, throughout your your law career, did you have any mentors in in the justice realm or in response when you're working towards inequities?

Fascinating question, because you would think that maybe I would because of the path that I have gone and the journey that I've gone on. But, you know, again, law school was was planted... that seed was planted again by my father saying you need to go to college. And, and in particular, careers of being a lawyer or engineer or a doctor. So that was always kind of the mindset. But I guess kind of the the the legal heavyweights that stood out in my mind, Thurgood Marshall, for all the work that he did with, you know, the NAACP, and then his argument on the Brown versus Board of Education, United States Supreme Court case. And then ultimately when he becomes a United States Supreme Court justice himself. So he's always kind of been maybe, not always, you know, at the top of my mind, but maybe my maybe more psychologically... He's always been kind of a a hero, if you will. But other than other than Thurgood Marshall, you know, there wasn't a lot of Pacific Islander lawyers or Pacific American lawyers that that I saw kind of growing up in.

And maybe that's partly because I was moving around to different military bases as a young child and through much of my high school career. And even in terms of Asian American lawyers, you know, one of the leading civil rights lawyers, Dale Minami, I didn't really learn about Dale until I was already in practice, and learned to, ultimately learned about his work in the Korematsu case. But so it just so happened that I just I didn't necessarily have anybody in mind or any specific mentors as I was making my way through through college and law school. But since then, I've been inspired by many different lawyers of different backgrounds that there have been, ultimately, as I've learned about their careers, have been heroes in the past, that they've paved. And so, you know, Dale Minami is certainly one of one of my mentors now for the work that that that he's done. You know, Rob Bonta for, you know, people to always remember that. Bob Bonta is a lawyer. And now, you know, the first Filipino American attorney general for California, you know, Kamala Harris as as an Asian American, African American, you know, prosecutor in San Francisco, then California state attorney general, and then a United States senator, and now vice president. Right. She has has blazed a path in and needs to be recognized. And for, you know, the work that that she's done to help open the door for folks. And so a lot of different leaders now, and that I am familiar with as my career has has, has gone about.

Joy & Cultural Resistence Timeframe 1:25:12 >> 1:29:12

There's always, again, work that needs to be done in terms of educating our our our fellow community members about, issues of of racism and discrimination. And we, you know, we still see that with the, you know, the anti-Asian hate that we see in our communities. And that's going to be an ongoing issue of education and outreach. And we will-- we will always need to be on our toes about keeping an eye out for, you know, folks who advocate for hate or discrimination. Because, again, when we reflect back on history, for example, you know, Fred Korematsu's case, with the, you know, President Roosevelt in issuing executive order 9066, excluding, you know, Japanese Americans from the West Coast... When we look back on the lesson, those lessons that were learned, even though they occurred during World War Two, almost 80 years ago, you know, arguably those those types of discrimination and racism surfaced during the, you know, 9/11 attacks. And with our American citizens of of of Middle Eastern descent, Arab descent. And so, you know, there were there were, there was some arguments that were being made that we needed to return back to, you know, Executive Order 9066. And so we always need to be cognizant that there are still those in our community, that, that will engage in racism and discrimination.

And so it's very important for, again, people of diverse backgrounds and diverse communities and diverse ethnicities, be involved in their communities, whether it's being just a good neighbor in their, in their local neighborhood, or whether it's being active in the community in terms of the parent teacher associations, or being active in local community politics or state politics or national politics, or protesting when they see something unjust. We need to have that representation, and we need to have that representation in the district attorney's office as prosecutors because the prosecutors control much of the authority and decision making and power in terms of, who gets charged with criminal offenses. We need to have that type of diversity on our bench with our local judges because we need to have those judges with different backgrounds being able to understand the arguments that are being made on behalf of the diverse communities. And we need to have that again, diversity in our in our elected officials, whether it's city council or or county supervisors or assemblymembers or state senators, etc. So that that type of ongoing issue is something that still needs-- and will always need work.

Narrative & Identity Timeframe 1:29:12 >> 1:32:51

(Interviewer – not in recording) What are your thoughts about the impact of something like the model minority myth on these silences, but also why it's so important to educate people about API legal history?

It's important because of the old adage or saying, “Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it.” And so unfortunately, this country's original sin was slavery. And with slavery comes discrimination and racism. And that racism and discrimination is still very much present to this day. And even though there were changes made in laws, you know, pertaining to, you know, the Alien Land Law exclusion, or the Executive Order 9066, etc., etc., etc., there are still people in our community who want to revert back to some of those practices. And... they forget that the history that has that has happened or has taken place for certain progress to be made. And so it's important to learn history, both the good parts of history, as well as, the not so good parts of history. And that's just a part of the education process. Those who argue that, you know, they don't want to learn about slavery, or or segregation, or mass incarceration, you know, they're doing it as a service to themselves. They're doing a disservice to their communities, because they are forgetting those painful lessons of history and and the progress that and change that needed to be made to make ourselves a better society. And so it's very important, in my opinion, to, still teach, again, those history lessons that, that weren't so positive. Because those not so positive history lessons led to important change, you know, led to the civil rights acts in the sixties. Right? Led to, you know, Martin Luther King Jr's march. And those those in the movement, you know, led to today's holiday. Martin Luther King Jr Day holiday. And unfortunately, some people still in this country don't approve of this particular holiday. And so it's up to us that. That you understand the importance of that history to continue to teach that history. And if they don't offer it in the elementary schools or the middle schools or the high schools, it's important to teach it in the junior colleges and the local colleges and the four-year universities because we need to know that history, because, again, those who do not know that history are bound to make those same mistakes.

Narrative & Identity Timeframe 1:32:51 >> end

So, activism means different things to different people. And for me in particular, because now I'm a judge, I have to be very careful about... the activism areas that I participate in because I am a neutral now, and I have the, the... the recognition, and the perception of the bench to worry about. And-- and that's very important to me as well. And and the bench as a judge can-- we cannot be biased, or, you know, show prejudice towards one party or another. And so I have to be very mindful. And they teach us, at least in California, we we have judicial ethics that we have to abide by. And, and I think for the most part, our judges in California are fantastic about that. I can't speak about the same for, you know, in particular, the United States Supreme Court at this moment in time in history. In terms of conflicts of interest and ethics, in that particular body. But I can speak about the training that I go through in the state of California. And and so when, you know, when you ask me now as a judge about activism, again, I'm very mindful of my position as a judge and and very mindful of our reputation to be neutral and impartial and to respect that, and and to protect that, because we want folks, when they come into my courtroom, they need to be they need to understand that they're going to be given a fair opportunity to be heard, that they are going to get a chance to have their case, have their case presented, without any bias or prejudice against them. They're going to get a fair hearing. And so that's important to me as a judge, a local, a superior court judge for the state of California, and so important for my colleagues to maintain that neutrality.

And but, you know, when I was a lawyer and when I was a prosecutor working with the community prosecution unit, I was very engaged in the community in terms of of activism and, and helping making sure that, you know, certain individuals and rights were protected. And, you know, you certainly you can-- that's documented because a lot of the work that I did was was in public and and and so that, that record is out there. But again that was as an advocate working on behalf of the district attorney's office and community. As a judge, again, I have to be a little more mindful. But we do need as we started this this this interview. We do need folks to be to participate. And when they see something wrong, you know, whether it's college students, or law students, or lawyers, or just community members, they do need to speak up. And if they see something that needs to be changed and they, they need to protest. Our country was built on the right to protest. And again, some countries don't allow their citizens to protest. Their governments shut protests down, which is not healthy for their society or healthy for their for their governments. And so I think as a judicial officer, I have to be very aware that we do have to protect the rights of those that do engage in in civil, peaceful protests, and activism. And so that's going to be the response that I have to leave you with now.

I've shared this once, but but, but, but I have to reiterate it because it's so very important, the work that you guys are doing as as educators and and historians and filmmakers to record stories of, of our folks in the API community. You know, I want to thank you for that because we need to educate the future generations because I'm not going to be here forever. And I need to I need to make sure and I'm going to do my part to help educate the next generations in the younger generations so that they understand my history and they understand the history of the API /APA community up to this present day and so that they can help advance and help educate about our history. And so that's the last message that I want to leave, is that engage our community so that they can advocate and advance the APA/API history and stories.