HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023 Tom Oye Award NominationsContact: Jennifer Bennerotte, Communications Director
Phone 952-833-9520 • jbennerotte@EdinaMN.gov • EdinaMN.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nominations to be Collected for Human Rights Award
Edina, Minn., Sept. 15, 2022 – The City of Edina Human Rights & Relations Commission (HRRC) is accepting nominations for the 2023 Tom Oye Human Rights Award, recognizing individuals
or groups in the community whose good work promotes human relations and advances human rights.
The award was established in recognition of the late Tom Oye an early member of the HRRC who served on it for more than 30 years. Oye was also a soldier in World War II, a second-generation
Japanese American who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. In 2003, Oye received the Prize for Humanity by the Immortal Chaplains Foundation.
“Being a part of the Human Rights & Relations Commission is an immense privilege, particularly when we get the chance to annually bestow the Tom Oye Award,” expressed Jasmine Brett Stringer
Moore, Chair, City of Edina Human Rights and Relations Commission. “The award annually celebrates an individual, group of individuals and/or organization that embodies and amplifies
human rights within our community's tapestry. All too often, such people go unnoticed, so having the opportunity to acknowledge and honor these community champions, who are fervently
shaping with their resilience and commitment to human rights, is deeply gratifying."
Anyone who lives, studies or works in Edina, or who makes significant contributions to Edina, is eligible for the Tom Oye Human Rights Award. Nominees will be evaluated based on their
efforts to foster respect and dignity for others in the advancement of human rights. The term “human rights” includes freedom from discrimination because of race, color, creed religion,
age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, status with regard to public assistance, family status or national origin.
The 2022 Tom Oye Award was presented to Sally Sudo, who was placed in a Japanese American incarceration camp as a result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, authorizing
the U.S. government to forcibly uproot 125,000 people of Japanese descent and incarcerate them for the duration of World War II. Since retiring from a long and successful career in
education, Sudo has spoken to social studies classes and other groups about her first-hand experiences as a girl at the Minidoka internment camp.
Nominations for the 2023 award are due Monday, Nov 13. Self-nominations are allowed. The Tom Oye Human Rights Award Application can be found online at EdinaMN.gov/HumanRights.
The award will be presented later this year at a meeting of the Edina City Council.
For more information or to receive a paper copy of the application, contact City Management Fellow Gillian Straub, gstraub@EdinaMN.gov or 952-826-0429.
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