Attorney General’s Office creates new civil rights unit

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The state Attorney General’s Office has created a new team to help enforce civil rights and anti-discrimination laws.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson says two assistant attorneys general will make up the Wing Luke Civil Rights Unit.

The Seattle Times reports the attorneys will investigate and bring actions to stop discrimination in housing, education, credit, insurance and sexual orientation, among other areas.

Ferguson says his office should be doing civil rights work on behalf of Washington residents.

Wing Luke was a former assistant attorney general who became the first Asian-American to hold public office in the Northwest when he was elected to the Seattle City Council in 1962. The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is also named for him.

Luke died in a plane crash in the Cascade Mountains in 1965.