LIHU‘E — Laura Hirono, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono’s mother, passed away on April 19, the eve of the release of “Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story,” penned by the younger Hirono.
Hirono is the only immigrant serving in the U.S. Senate, and the state’s first female senator, and the book constructs how Hirono found her voice through poverty, grueling years of academics and law school, and working in the state Legislature to her rise in Hawai‘i and eventually national politics, speaking up for herself and others.
Her story starts with the first of three generations of women: Hirono’s grandmother, Tari Shinoki. Shinoki traveled to Hawai‘i as a mail-order picture bride, and returned from Hawai‘i to Japan before World War II.
Hirono details her mother’s enduring dedication to her three children, from fleeing her abusive husband and moving her family back to O‘ahu in 1955, to taking any job that’d help them to survive and making oshibana thank-you cards for her daughter’s campaigns.
Quickly, I discovered Hirono’s words, her story, were like when somebody stretches their hands out to you. She shares a raw retelling of liberation and loneliness, finding strength in family and pursuing politics.
Too, Hirono sheds light on critical moments from the Trump administration, including the nomination hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, her relationships with Republican members of Congress, other female delegates, and relations within state politicians.
What held as I read were
Hirono’s capturing of the love she has for family. Speaking of her younger brother, Wayne, who had to be left in Japan until he was school-aged, Hirono points to that trauma and separation as pivotal to her understanding of immigration and separate policy. Hirono speaks of the undying care and heartbreak she felt to ensure he felt safe, loved and protected.
Often, I thought of the stories I’d be told of my own grandparents, who left their home in the Philippines. I had about a chapter or two left when I read of Laura’s passing, when I set down the book in the middle of a chapter describing our own current pandemic.
Hirono, who recently introduced an Asian and Pacific Islander hate-crime bill, continues with her story.
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Sabrina Bodon, public safety and government reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
