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Dear Friends,<br>
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It is with sadness that I share the news of Yuri Kochiyama's passing on
June 1. She lived a life dedicated to fighting the systems of
oppression and to treating the everyday person with dignity and
respect. I am so honored and humbled to have had her in my life.<br>
<br>
Warmly,<br>
Diane Fujino <br>
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<h1 style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size: x-large;">Harlem's
Long Time Human Rights/Political Prisoner Activist & Comrade To
Malcolm X - Sis. Yuri Kochiyama Dies At 93</span></h1>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">Yuri Kochiyama at memorial for World War II
Japanese-American Concentration Camp Internees in 2004.</span></strong></div>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">Japanese-American activist Yuri Kochiyama
has died of natural causes in Berkeley, Calif., at the age of 93. The
lifelong champion of civil & human rights causes in the Black,
Latino, Native American and Asian-American communities passed away
peacefully in her sleep on Sunday morning, according to her family.</span></strong></div>
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<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">Born in 1921 as Mary Yuriko Nakahara,
Kochiyama spent the early years of her life in San Pedro, Calif., a
small town south of Los Angeles. Months after the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor, she and her family were forced to relocate to internment
camps along with tens of thousands of other Japanese-Americans. She met
her late husband Bill Kochiyama, who served with other
Japanese-American soldiers in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, at the
Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas, where she spent two years.</span></strong></div>
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<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">The couple married after World War II and
moved to start their family in New York City. Living in Harlem's
housing projects among Black and Puerto Rican neighbors inspired her
interest in the civil rights movement. Kochiyama held weekly open
houses for activists in the family's apartment, where she taped
newspaper clippings to the walls and kept piles of leaflets on the
kitchen table. "Our house felt like it was the movement 24/7," said her
eldest daughter Audee Kochiyama-Holman.</span></strong><strong style=""
class=""><span class="" style="font-size: large;"><br style="" class=""
clear="none">
</span></strong></div>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">Her close friend and comrade Malcolm X ,
whom she first met in 1963, helped radicalize her activism. Kochiyama
began focusing her work on Black nationalism and was with Malcolm X
during his final moments. Minutes after gunmen fired at Malcolm X in
1965 during his last speech in New York City, she rushed on the scene
to provide aid & comfort. The historic photo below shows Yuri in a
Black dress peering worriedly through horn-rimmed glasses at Malcolm
X's bullet-riddled body.
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</span></strong></div>
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style="font-size: large;"> </span></strong></div>
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<div style="" class=""><img moz-do-not-send="true" class=""
src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llgnpgANQv1qcdek0o1_1280.jpg?.jpg"
alt="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llgnpgANQv1qcdek0o1_1280.jpg?.jpg"
height="390" width="569"> </div>
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<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">In the 1980s, she and her husband pushed for
reparations and a formal government apology for Japanese-American
internees through the Civil Liberties Act, which President Ronald
Reagan signed into law in 1988.
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</span></strong></div>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;"> </span></strong></div>
<strong style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size: large;">A
supporter of both the Black Panther Party & Black Liberation Army;
Sis. Yuri along with fellow OAU member Herman Ferguson was also one of
the Co-Founders of the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee which sponsors
both the Annual Dinner To Suport US Captured Political Prisoners as
well as the Annual Malcolm X Day Pilgrimage To Malcolm X's grave site.
Both she and Bro. Malcolm shared the same May 19th birthday.</span></strong>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">Her continued dedication to social causes
inspired younger generations of activists, especially within the
Asian-American community.</span></strong></div>
<div style="" class=""><strong style="" class=""><span class=""
style="font-size: large;">"She was not your typical Japanese-American
person, especially a nisei," or a second-generation Japanese-American,
said Tim Toyama, Kochiyama's second cousin who wrote a one-act play
about her relationship with Malcolm X, </span></strong><strong style=""
class=""><span class="" style="font-size: large;">She was definitely
ahead of her time, and we finally caught up with her."</span></strong></div>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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