Do you know Yuri Kochiyama?

ancestryinprogress:

I’m giving this woman flowers every single day that she is alive to let her know that cradling Malcolm X in her arms as he lay dying is the most powerful thing she could have done for him in that moment, in that historical moment in our lives.

You see because she was still is an ardent social rights/social justice activist—on the behalf of Japanese Americans and for the causes of black people (diasporically and in the U.S.).

Their interracial friendship (a deep one) spoke volumes about Malcolm’s character and Yuri’s commitment. It was one that was not given due credit in Malcolm’s biopic. It is not often that her name is said along with his anymore. It is sad that people are forgetting just how down our Asian brothers and sisters were for us and we for them.

Born Mary Yuriko Nakahara in San Pedro, California, Kochiyama’s family was caught up in the racist dragnet that led her family to be imprisoned at an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Even so, two of her brothers pledged their allegiance to the United States by joining the U.S. Army. She moved to New York City with her husband and became actively involved in the Harlem community. She was even a member of Malcolm’s organization, Organization of Afro-American Unity, a PAN AFRICANIST organization.

She marched with a Puerto Rican coalition (Puerto Ricans have alwayssss been the baddest at political upheaval and movement work, see: Young Lords) to the Statue of Liberty in a protest for Puerto Rican Independence. Puerto Rico is…not…independent..yet. Yes, that’s right…the United States is still a colonial power.

She wants reparations for Japanese American families who were interned in camps. She fights for the release of Mumia Abu Jamal. She fights for the rights of political prisoners. She deserves a Nobel Peace Prize (honestly) and was nominated for one in 2005.

Honestly, she’s a fucking boss. At 90 years old, she’s still a fucking boss. And as we remember Malcolm’s death and his importance to us, I will always remember Yuri Kochiyama as well.