NikkeiWest--Northern California Japanese American Newspaper

By J.K. Yamamoto

OAKLAND—The passing of Gina Hotta was so sudden and unexpected that many of her friends and colleagues struggled to come to terms with it.

A remembrance of her life on Oct. 25 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, where she once worked as program director, gave them a chance to express their feelings. It was also an occasion for people from different facets of her life to meet each other, in many cases for the first time.

Widely known as the creator, producer and host of "Apex Express," a weekly show on KPFA-FM dedicated to Asian Pacific Islander culture and politics, Hotta, 56, died of heart failure on Sept. 29 after collapsing at a union meeting.

Eugina Haruko Hotta, whose late father was a World War II veteran of the Military Intelligence Service, was born in Monterey in 1953 and grew up in the Bay Area. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in political science. It was there that her political activism began.

Norman Jayo, the founder of KPFA's apprenticeship program, wrote in a biography of Hotta distributed at the event, "Gina saw the world with sober eyes and acted with courage. She stood up for people, for community, for a better world.

"She worked hard for the struggles against evictions in Japantown with the Committee Against Nihonmachi Evictions (CANE), which was closely aligned with the fight to save the International Hotel in San Francisco.

"She volunteered with Bay Area Asians for Nuclear Disarmament and worked for several community non-profit agencies: the Japan Pacific Resource Network, the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, and Chinese for Affirmative Action.

"At UC Berkeley, where she was recording supervisor at the Language Center, she was active with her union, University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), and helped to organize the massive campus walkout on Sept. 24, 2009."

Hotta was discussing the walkout, held to protest UC's cutbacks and tuition hikes, when she was stricken. Mike Friedrich of UPTE, who knew Hotta and was present at that meeting, said that he felt their lives would be forever linked because her presence marked her final act as a political organizer.

Mark Kaiser of the Berkeley Language Center recalled how professional and meticulous Hotta was in maintaining the university's audio archives for the last eight years: "For Gina, all the work she did was equally important, be that a language quiz or a textbook recording or a lecture by a famous professor or field recordings of a Native American community. She treated the recordings with respect and care."

Both Friedrich and Kaiser confessed that they knew little of Hotta's other activities, even at nearby KPFA, because she tended not to talk about herself. That theme came up throughout the evening.

Family and Friends

Among those attending the memorial were Hotta's husband, Michael Yoshida, operations director at KPFA; her mother, Virginia Hotta; and her siblings, Ann Hotta, John Hotta and Jasmine Ianneo.

Ann Hotta shared her memories of her sister and noted that despite her many commitments, Gina made it a point to spend personal time with her husband. Their travels took them to the Southwest, the Tule Lake and Manzanar internment camp sites, Japan, and elsewhere.

Scenes from those trips were included in a photo collage created by Yoshida and Jayo and screened during the event.

Rev. Michael Yoshii of Buena Vista United Methodist Church in Alameda, who knew Hotta since childhood, gave opening and closing remarks and invited everyone in the audience to offer origami cranes at a shrine in front of the stage.

He commented on the two photos that were used for the evening's printed program, one showing Hotta as a carefree little girl and the other an adult, more serious Hotta staring intently at the camera. He said the latter photo made him feel as if she were looking at her loved ones and colleagues from the other side.

Don Misumi spoke on behalf of Hotta's fellow Japantown activists from the ’70s and ’80s: "Gina was a very private person. She was always willing to talk politics and music but you never really got inside her. She would not easily open up and she was a bit quirky in that way. There are many of us who have known her for a long time and worked alongside her but few who really knew her well personally.

"But I think this was a sign of the times as we were of that generation who came of age during the civil rights and Vietnam War era. It is not a stretch to say the Asian American movement began with us. We felt a great sense of urgency; and in a way, politics became everything."

Hotta was a member of CANE, which later became the Japanese Community Progressive Alliance, which in turn was a founding member of the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations, one of the groups that fought for compensation and an apology for Japanese Americans interned during World War II.

"She was a member when CANE’s main goal was to stop the physical destruction of our community for the sake of tourism and big business," Misumi said. "In CANE she demonstrated, rallied, picketed and linked arms against the police to prevent more residents from being thrown out of their homes.

"She was an early and ardent supporter of Nobirukai, the Japanese newcomers group. She organized at her workplace, Benihana. Many hours were spent visiting fellow workers, speaking to them in Japanese, urging them to support unionization. She walked the picket line in support of Japanese warehousemen trying to unionize."

Of her work at KPFA, which included an Asian American public affairs show, "Inside/Eastside," in the 1990s, Misumi said, "Through the years we listened to her on the radio and heard about the great things she’d done. As so many have and will attest to, Gina was a revolutionary and gave voice to the community. Her commitment and passion for peace and justice never waned."

Greg Morozumi of the Eastside Arts Alliance also spoke fondly of Hotta, recalling that their anthem as activists back in the day was Gil Scott-Heron's poem and song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."

Known as "Mama G" or simply "G" around the station, Hotta was a mentor to many young broadcasters, two of whom served as the evening's emcees, Weyland Southon of "Hard Knock Radio" and Wayie Ly of "Apex Express."

Those who had appeared on Hotta's show expressed their thanks, including Miho Kim, an advocate for Koreans experiencing discrimination in Japan, many of whom are second- or third-generation residents.

It was noted that one of her most recognized works was "Which Way Home," a radio documentary that told the little-known story of Asian American veterans of the Vietnam War.

Creative Side

Jeff Chang, who wrote a book about hip-hop, praised Hotta for promoting the work of young Asian American rappers.

She was also credited with providing a voice for artists and activists from many different communities, including South Asians and Pacific Islanders, through her work at KPFA and OACC.

Hotta was also an artist in her own right; she played the saxophone, flute and taiko. Musicians who had worked with her performed, including jazz artists Jon Jang (piano) and Francis Wong (saxophone).

They provided background music for a poem by Genny Lim, "Memory," and played their version of one of Hotta's favorites, "Suavecito."

Also performing were hula dancer Denise Teraoka, Korean percussionist Dohee Lee, storyteller Brenda Wong Aoki and musician Mark Izu, the Nguyen Dance Company, Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble, and koto masters Shirley Muramoto and Brian Wong.

Dr. Alex Feng of the Taoist Center, Hotta's qigong teacher, said that he saw her often but knew nothing about her community activities. He even pronounced her name "Jeena" (her family and friends pronounce it "Jenna") but she never corrected him.

Feng, who led the audience in a series of exercises, said that with everyone whose life was touched by Hotta gathered under one roof, it would be a great tribute to her if they all got to know each other.

During the reception that followed, they did just that.