Yuri Kochiyama
By: Danielle Gibson
Tags: History, Poetry, Racism, Civil Rights, American History

Note:

On May 19, 1921, twins were born to Japanese immigrants in San Pedro, California. The babies were named Peter and Mary Yuriko “Yuri” Nakahara. Yuri (Nakahara) Kochiyama would grow up to be a social rights activist and would become an integral part of the civil rights movement.

Yuri, along with her twin and older brother Arthur, grew up in a small working-class neighborhood in San Pedro. While the Nakahara family were working-class, the family grew up rather affluently. Yuri spent her youth attending the San Pedro Public School system and the Presbyterian church, where she taught Sunday School. After graduating from San Pedro High School in 1939, Yuri attended Compton Junior College. At Compton, she studied English, journalism, and art. She graduated from junior college in 1941. A few months after her graduation, Yuri’s life would be turned upside down.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Empire bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. After the attack, the United States formally entered World War II. Yuri and her family were directly affected by Pearl Harbor. Shortly after the bombing, Yuri’s father was arrested by FBI agents as they believed him to be a threat to national security. Mr. Nakahara was already in poor health when the FBI agents arrested him. While already in poor health, Mr. Nakahara was placed in a six-week detention center where he was questioned about his loyalty to the United States. Mr. Nakahara was released from his six-week detention on January 20, 1942. He died the following day. Many men who were Japanese immigrants were forced to endure the same treatment following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Following initial interrogations of Japanese immigrants, President Franklin D. Roosevelt also issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. The order called for the removal of all persons of Japanese descent from the western coastal region of the United States. A few short weeks after losing their father, Yuri and the Nakahara family were “evacuated” from their home. By mid-1942, the Nakahara family found themselves in the Japanese internment camp in Jerome, Arkansas. While in Arkansas, Yuri began to see first hand the similarities between the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the treatment of black individuals in the Jim Crow South. This experience led Yuri to devote the rest of her life to fight against racial injustice in the United States.

World War II officially ended on September 2, 1945. Shortly after the war ended, Japanese Americans were finally released from the ten different internment facilities scattered around the inland United States. So three years after the Nakahara family had been forced to relocate to Arkansas, they were finally given the opportunity to leave. The high-security internment camp at Tule Lake, California, was the last to close in March 1946.

While Yuri was interned, she met Bill Kochiyama. Bill served in the 442nd combat unit in the U.S. Army. After the war was over, Bill and Yuri would marry in 1946. The couple moved to New York in 1948 and welcomed six children into the world. In 1960, Bill and Yuri Kochiyama moved their family to a low-income housing project in Harlem. The Kochiyama’s became active members of the Harlem Parents Committee, a grassroots organization striving to create safer streets and integrated education in Harlem.

In 1963, Yuri Kochiyama met and formed a friendship with Malcolm X. This friendship greatly influenced Yuri’s activism and inspired her to join the pan-Africanist Organization of Afro-American Unity. While they were only friends for two short years, Malcolm greatly influenced Yuri’s political career and activist roles. Yuri was actually with Malcolm while he was assassinated, giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York, on February 21, 1965. In the assassination photos, Yuri can be seen knelt next to Malcolm’s body.

Following Malcolm’s assassination, Yuri continued to actively fight for all individuals to be given basic human rights in the United States. She became increasingly involved in black liberation struggles, the anti-war movement, and the Asian-American movement. In 2005, Yuri was one of 1,000 women collectively nominated for the Noble Peace Prize through the “1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005” project. Yuri was included in this nomination for her tireless struggle against imperialism and racism. Yuri Kochiyama was a special individual who left a lasting impact on this world. Yuri drew her last breath on June 1, 2014, in Berkeley, California, at the age of 93.