Retired 3rd District Judge Raymond Uno is full of energy.
Basketball, tennis, ballroom dancing, line dancing and skiing are only a few things Uno, 64, enjoys."My main priority is taking care of my mother," said Uno, who was the first person of Japanese descent to be appointed judge in the Salt Lake City court system. "She'll turn 101 in a couple of months, and I'm sure she'll make it until then. Who knows, maybe she'll reach 102."
But family is only another part of this man's life. He is an acting member of the Japanese American Citizens League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Salt Lake County Aging Services Council, the Utah State Adult and Aging Services Advisory Council, the governor's Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Commission, the executive board of Aging Association of Utah, Colors of Success and the Norman S. Anderson, M.D., Fund, which deals with mental-health issues. Uno spends his time speaking in public, giving lectures and working with other minority agencies on civil rights issues.
"The whole purpose of what I do is to break down the barriers of discrimination in all aspects of life that will allow everyone to reach his or her potential," Uno said. "I think that if you reach about 80 percent of that purpose, you're doing a really good job. I always have a lot of hope and approach things positively . . . it keeps me sane."
On Feb. 19, 1941, (what is now known as the Day of Remembrance) Uno, then 11, was forced out of his house in California, like 110,000 other people of Japanese descent, and placed in the Heart Mountain, Wyo., internment camp, one of 10 camps around the nation.
"We were only able to take with us the clothes we were wearing and what we could carry in our two hands," he said.
For three years, his family stayed in a 18-foot-by-16-foot barrack, which contained a potbelly stove for heat, a table and cots for beds. Uno said freedom in the camp was minimal.
"They (the camps) were surrounded by barbed-wire fences," he said. "The cafeteria was more like a mess hall. There was a public latrine, a laundromat and a public shower. We made our own furo (a Japanese bath that resembles a hot tub) and were basically confined to our barracks at night. All we had was that potbelly stove for heat, and the coal we used was ra-tion-ed."
When his family was released, Uno moved to his aunt's house in Ogden.
"We lost everything we owned while we were in the camp," he said. "So we had to start over."
Uno enlisted in the armed services and completed his service at the start of the Korean War. He was accepted at Weber State College and paid his tuition with the help of the G.I. Bill. After a year, he transferred to the University of Utah and graduated with a degree in political science.
He was appointed to the Salt Lake City Court in 1976. By statute, the court became a Circuit Court in 1978. In 1984, Uno ran for 3rd District Court and won. He served until his retirement in 1990.
"I strongly believe everyone should be provided due process and be given the same opportunity as everyone else regardless of race, color and background," he said.