Interviewee: Judith Mirkinson
Interviewer: Jack Crissy
Synopsis
Judith Mirkinson is a political advocate originally from New York who now lives in San Francisco. She is the board president of the Comfort Women Justice Coalition and has worked with them for decades. Judith discusses the growth of militarism and fascism throughout the world and how that has been reflected in polarized public debate over issues like the “Comfort Women.” She details this through stories of her decades long career of political advocacy from work in the Philippines to back home in San Francisco. She works to shed light not only on the plight of the “Comfort Women,” but also the ways in which they have been silenced.
This interview covers topics such as the “Comfort Women,” Militarization, Women’s Rights, International Relations, and Political Activism.
I met Judith by interviewing her organization and she was happy to discuss all that they have done. This interview was conducted over Zoom due to the fact she lives in San Francisco and I am at school in Maine.
TW: Talks of Sexual Violence, Sexual Abuse, War-Time Violence
Biography
Judith Mirkinson is from New York City. For over three decades, she has dedicated her life to the advocacy for human rights, specializing in, but not limited to, East Asia. Her work began with the National Lawyer’s Guild and then Gabriela in the Philippines in the 1980s, where she first began her work with the Comfort Women. Judith is now board president of the Comfort Women Justice Coalition based in San Francisco. Judith is a founding member and has played a part in all aspects of what the Coalition has done including the construction of the first monument to the Comfort Women on US soil. Judith now lives in San Francisco.
Interview Transcript
http://web.colby.edu/voices/files/2023/12/Crissy_J_Transcript_Final.pdf