HONORING freedom fighter against genocide - yuri kochiyama
May 19, 1921 is the birthday of revolutionary Yuri Kochiyama, who shares a birthday with El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X), Ho Chi Minh, Lorraine Hansberry, and Kathy Boudin.
In the 1940s, Yuri was a child when her family along with 120,000 other Japanese families were forcibly relocated onto u.s. internment camps by presidential Executive Order 9066 because of the anti-Asian xenophobic hysteria during WWII. That experience was transformative for a young Yuri. As an adult, Yuri relocated to New York’s Harlem community, raised her children, became active in the global Movements for Black Liberation, Puerto Rican Independence, anti-Vietnam war movement of the 1960s, the struggles waged against capitalism, imperialism, racism and white supremacy, and was the only non-Afrikan member of Malcolm’s Organization of Afro-American Unity at his side when he was assassinated on February 21st, 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom. Yuri was also a member of the Young Lords Party, a citizen of the Republic of New Afrika, founded Asian Americans for Action, and fought alongside her husband, Bill for reparations for the survivors of u.s. Japanese internment camps.
Yuri Kochiyama was a fierce advocate for the freedom and support of u.s. held Political Prisoners of War as a member of the Jericho Movement for Amnesty & Recognition for u.s. held PPOWS, co-founder of Asians for Mumia. With the release of any PPOWs, he or she always made their way to Yuri’s home a first stop.
Yuri is featured in the documentary “Mountains That Take Wing: Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama a Conversation on Life, Struggles & Liberation,” her memoir, “Passing It On,” and a biography, “The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama: The Heartbeat of Struggle” by Diane C. Fujino.
In the final years of her life, Yuri’s family relocated her to Oakland, CA to be closer to them. Even then she remained active in the Movement, speaking out against Islamophobia of 9/11, supporting and writing to PPOWs, insisting on oppressed people’s right to resist, and fighting for the human rights and dignity of oppressed people worldwide.
Yuri Kochiyama made her Transition on June 1st, 2014.