Warren Furutani
Warren T. Furutani is an American politician, who served in the California State Assembly from 2008 to 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, Furutani was elected in a special election in 2008 to replace Laura Richardson. He previously served on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board, where he became the first Asian member in 1987 and the LAUSD Board president in 1991, and later on the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.
Early life and education
Furutani is a fourth-generation Japanese American. He graduated from Gardena High School in 1965. He attended several community colleges and earned a B.A. degree from Antioch University.Activism
During the mid-1960s, Furutani became more politically minded due to the social climate of the nation at the time, in large part because of his own family's history. He became a civil rights activist and became involved in what were to become the early stages of the Asian American Movement. Furutani worked tirelessly to establish admissions programs for students of color at colleges and universities throughout the United States. He helped many campuses establish ethnic studies programs and was instrumental in UCLA and Long Beach State University adopting an Asian American Studies program.Early career
He was one of 150 people to make the first organized pilgrimage to Manzanar in December 1969.In 1970, Warren helped to create the Manzanar Committee that worked to get Manzanar designated as a national historical site.