The day before the Sampan had a scheduled interview with State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, her district was suddenly under an international spotlight. Thousands of people had come out to rally in the city of Somerville, part of Massachusetts’ 27th Middlesex District, for Rümeysa Öztürk. Öztürk is the Tufts University doctoral student who was detained by the Department of Homeland Security and was set for deportation back to Turkey — apparently, because she co-wrote an Op-Ed in her university newspaper a year ago that called for divestment from Israel.

During Sampan’s conversation with Uyterhoeven, she had a lot to say about Öztürk’s detention and how the raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have focused on students who’ve spoken out for Palestine and engaged in other political activism, including for Ukraine. She also said she sees parallels between the current crackdowns to what happened to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II.

That dark chapter of U.S. history is close to Uyterhoeven, a Japanese American who’s advocated around the legacy of activist Fred Korematsu.

“His story needs to be told and taught in history books, because we don’t want to repeat history,” she said of Korematsu, who was arrested for defying his incarceration in the 1940s. “At like 20-something-years old, he effectively stood up to his government … and said, ‘I’m not gonna go; I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m a law-abiding American citizen. I’m staying here,’” said Uyterhoeven.

Other issues Uyterhoeven tackled during the interview were ongoing in her district and the state, such as the high cost of living. She also expressed concern over the “dismantling” of federal departments for education and health and human services.

Before taking office in the early 2020s, Uyterhoeven, was already interested in economic and social justice, contributing for a while to the 2016 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders. She attended Wayland High School, later earned a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and a master’s degree from the University of Toulouse. She also got a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School.
The Sampan spoke to her by phone. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Sampan: I want to start off with the latest news — since this just happened in your district — the detention of Rümeysa Öztürk…. What is your take on what happened?

Uyterhoeven: Every day, hour — every minute — that Rumeysa is held in detention, and is not here at home in Somerville, is a minute too long. I’m deeply outraged by what’s happened. I think many of us in my community are very upset, which is why so many — around 2,000 people — gathered yesterday at Powder House Park.

But I think while we are outraged, we also know it’s incumbent upon us to do everything we can to bring her home and bring not just her, but also … quite a few other constituents of mine as well who were detained in very similar sort of experiences of plain-clothes officers just suddenly ambushing people and then throwing them into a van.

So, I deeply appreciate the amount of public pressure that my community is putting on this…. I think the piece that is so jarring for me is that this woman was speaking out and just advocating peacefully in an extremely civil way for the rights and dignity of Palestinian people and that is the reason why the DHS has said that they detained her.

I think that there’s this idea in the Trump administration that that (kind of activism) is an unacceptable thing. And the reality is that this is a grassroots movement that’s centered on peace and justice — fighting for Palestinian lives and dignity — and it’s actually an American movement as much as anything. This is going to have a backlash in the courts and in the American public….

Sampan: … Do you feel that in some ways that what had happened before the Trump administration — this cracking down on protests and dismissing and criminalizing the protesters — has allowed what’s happening now with the ICE raids on students?

Uyterhoeven: Absolutely. I mean, particularly with the cracking down on protesters. … It didn’t come out of nowhere. There was a lot that needed to be done to make this possible, whether it’s the blatant Islamophobia that has been brewing and stewing for decades … or the crackdown on protests … or the crackdown on various forms of free speech that were labeled as, I think wrongfully so, as hateful when it was not.

I also think there’s a general sense of dehumanizing Palestinian lives.… I think that all of this ideological groundwork that took place in the lead up to where we are now was absolutely necessary (for these crackdowns to be happening now)…. But this is not only about Mahmoud Kahlil or Rümeysa or Palestinian Americans, it is also about all of us, because all of our rights are at stake right now. I mean, they’ve effectively set the precedent that there is no freedom of speech, that we do not have Constitutional rights, if it’s OK to just kidnap people from the street for merely publishing one op-ed.

Sampan: You’ve been pretty active around the legacy of Fred Korematsu. Could you talk about whether you see any parallels to that time and to where we are today?

Uyterhoeven: Absolutely. To take a step back even from Fred Korematsu. When learning about Japanese incarceration, I think a lot of people ask, “How is that possible?” It almost seems unbelievable that about 120,000 people lost their homes, they lost everything; they were essentially put in prisons. They were detained with really no due process, really quickly, on the basis of their race. That’s possible through this repeated build up of the dehumanizing of a group of people based on their race. That’s exactly what happened to Japanese Americans during World War Two.

I think the other parallel that’s really pertinent is the … rationale used to detain Mahmoud and Rümeysa — effectively saying that their advocacy is a threat to U.S. foreign policy. Similarly, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ruled against Fred Korematsu said that it’s Constitutional to arrest and incarcerate a group of people based on their race … because it is a threat to national security. … I think that parallel there is so striking. … There are just so many parallels with respect to Fred Korematsu.

Sampan: In your profile, you clearly put a high value on your family background and even include a photo of your mom. Could you tell me a little bit about your background and how it shaped your perspective and the policies and efforts that you pursue in local government?

Uyterhoeven: I’m the daughter of immigrants. Both my mom and my dad immigrated to the United States in adulthood. I grew up raised by my mom ­— she’s a single mom — and I really grew up enmeshed in Japanese culture, and I didn’t speak a whole lot of English at home.

So that experience of having to navigate life in Massachusetts as someone whose family was not from here and who was speaking a different language, was something that shaped a lot of my views on justice. I think that’s also shaped my views from an economic-justice lens as well, because my mom was a union flight attendant, and I watched how year after year her union would get carved out — seeing their contracts just get worse and worse. So that was something that certainly shaped my views around organized labor, ensuring that we are taxing the wealthy to fund our public goods, like education, healthcare, housing and, of course, stopping the climate crisis.

Sampan: Before you got involved in politics, you were into economics. How did that influence your views?

Uyterhoeven: I went to business school and I worked as an antitrust economist, and so my job was to analyze when corporations broke the rules. … What I essentially took away from that experience was that we have to change these rules. And the rules around antitrust are quite old. They’re from the turn of the century…. I think that that experience gave me a very structural understanding of these injustices. I saw firsthand how … you need to have the government step in.

You see this influence, especially when we talk about money in politics … that is extremely and unfortunately increasingly intertwined. And I think the corporate capture of our public institutions is more palpable right now than ever, but I think it has been there. This didn’t just emerge out of nowhere. This is not a new thing.

Sampan: You mentioned the state is progressive, your district is progressive, and yet this is the only place in the nation that there’s a school for people with disabilities, the Judge Rotenberg Center, that uses (graduated electronic decelerator) therapy that many oppose. What does that say to you about our state?

Uyterhoeven: That it’s so important that we don’t get complacent and that we remain vigilant, and that we stay centered and focused on what is right and wrong. … I think there’s this idea in Massachusetts of “Massachusetts exceptionalism” …. But that also gives this idea of, like, “Don’t worry, everything’s figured out in Massachusetts.” Or, “Let’s focus elsewhere.” And that’s something I always implore people not to fall into. And I think this example right around disability justice is spot-on. You know, once you start to engage with people who are living their lives with a disability, you start to see it everywhere — whether it’s from the corner or sidewalk that’s at a grade that someone in a wheelchair would have immense difficulty moving freely around, or how our trains are designed … are things really accessible…? Once you start to open your eyes to it, it’s everywhere….

Sampan: Is there anything you wanted to add?

Uyterhoeven: I have to say this as a state legislator. …There’s a lot of power, and a lot that can be done, in the state legislature and in the statehouse, and not just in Massachusetts, but across the country. And I think because state governments are sort of in between the federal and the local level, that a lot of times we get overlooked. But there’s so much we can be doing, we must be doing, especially in this current political climate. And so I just urge everyone to dig deeper, to look into what is happening at the state-level, engage with your local and state elected officials. You know, we’re here, and we work for all of you.