Yesterday; Wednesday, April 17, a grateful nation honored the achievements of a petite, Paia-born-and-raised Maui girl who repeatedly challenged and overcame the odds to become a pioneering champion of civil rights.

“Historic Change: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of the Honorable Patsy Takemoto Mink” commemorates the release of the 2024 Patsy Mink quarter, the twelfth coin in the United States Mint’s American Women Quarters Program. If you’re one of the fortunate few who still has home delivery of The Maui News, and are reading this paper with your morning coffee, you might be able to catch the tail end of the live stream program hosted by the U.S. Mint, the National Women’s History Museum, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and Senator Mazie Hirono. If, like me, you receive your newspaper in the afternoon mail, you can try this link to a recording of this morning’s event: https://youtu.be/ZrmFWmZK7jl.

The Patsy Mink quarter was released on March 28, depicting the late Congresswoman wearing a flower lei and holding her Title IX legislation. The U.S. Capitol Building stands in the background, and the words “Equal Opportunity in Education” appear below her smiling image. According to U.S. Mint sales figures, nearly one million were sold in the first four days of availability. You can purchase them online, in 2- or 3-roll sets or bags of 100, at catalog.usmint.gov.

Patsy first gained nationwide attention when she delivered the civil rights plank speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention, proclaiming, “If to believe in freedom and equality is to be a radical, then I am a radical. So long as there remain groups of our fellow Americans who are denied equal opportunity and equal protection under the law … we must remain steadfast, till all shades of man may stand side by side in dignity and self-respect to truly enjoy the fruits of this great land.”

Although she is best known for authoring the 1972 landmark legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in athletics and academics at federally funded institutions, Title IX was only one of Patsy’s groundbreaking achievements. Elected to Congress in 1964, she was the first Asian American woman; in fact, the first woman of color to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was instrumental in the passage of bills establishing federal child care, special education, student loans, bilingual educations, and Head Start.

By the time she passed away in 2002, at the age of 74, Patsy had been steadfastly trailblazing for nearly sixty years. Her political career began not in the Territorial Legislature (in 1955), but a decade earlier, in Hamakuapoko.

Patsy Takemoto was the first female to be elected student body president at Maui High School. It’s a story I know well, because my mother, Yaemi Shibasaki Yogi, was her campaign manager in that election.

Back then, the school had a big/little sister program, in which freshmen girls were partnered with sophomores, to help guide them through their first year. Patsy was assigned to my mother, and they quickly discovered they had common interests. “Little sister” Patsy adapted well to high school, involving herself in service clubs, public speaking, and student government, just like Mom. Student government elections were held in the school year previous to the term of office, so when Patsy decided to run for student body president, she asked her “big sister” to manage her campaign.

They faced a tough battle, for the office had always been held by a boy, and the school principal had clearly stated that he preferred her male opponent. But the girls persisted, speaking one-to-one with each and every student, and in the end, their grass roots campaign was a success. The young man Patsy defeated was Elmer F. Cravalho, who also found his calling in politics, becoming Speaker of the Hawaii State House of Representatives, as well as Mayor of Maui County.

Many years later, when I was a reporter for KITV News, I got to meet the Congresswoman at a news conference in Honolulu. When I introduced myself as Yaemi’s daughter, she seemed genuinely appreciative as she told me what a great help and influence my mother had been in those Maui High days.

So, today, while celebrating the release of the latest American Women Quarter, I hope you will also give a nod to my mom for her small but significant role in helping to shape the life and legacy of Patsy T. Mink. Mom may never see a coin struck in her honor, but she’s golden in my eyes.

* Kathy Collins is a radio personality (The Buzz 107.5 FM and KEWE 97.9 FM/1240 AM), storyteller, actress, emcee and freelance writer whose “Sharing Mana’o” column appears every other Wednesday. Her email address is kcmaui913@gmail.com.