Mercury News: Norm Mineta statue unveiled at San Jose airport terminal

State Sen. Dave Cortese remarked that one day after we’re all gone, kids may ask who Mineta was and why he’s got an airport named after him and a statue, too. Then, he hopes, the stories will start.

They’ll hear about a 10-year-old San Jose Cub Scout who was interned along with his family and thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II, who became mayor of his hometown — the first Asian American to lead a major U.S. city — and later a 20-year member of the House of Representatives, U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton and Secretary of Transportation under George W. Bush. They’ll hear about how he sponsored the law that gave Japanese Americans reparations and an apology for their incarceration. And how he gave the unprecedented order to ground every civilian flight immediately after the 9/11 attacks.

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