The Remarkable Life of Yuri Kochiyama

Dylan Mooney
April 10th, 2006
Hurley
39J:146:001

“Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another.”

This is just one of the inspiring quotes from Yuri Kochiyama as stated in her memoirs, titled ‘Passing It On’, in which Kochiyama has dedicated to her family, friends, and others who have been moved by the hard work and determination she has put into many important civil rights movements within the last fifty years. For over half a century (she is currently eighty-five), Kochiyama has taken an active approach to inform, educate, and take a stand against social injustice faced by many ethnic groups in the Twentieth Century including African and Asian Americans, Latinos, and even political prisoners. What many people find inspirational about Ms. Kochiyama is that she takes an active stance not only for the people of her same race who face injustice, but all ethnicities which have been marginalized in our society. Kochiyama’s influence and reputation has expanded not only through her family, which are discussed thoroughly throughout her memoirs, but also internationally. Kochiyama is a remarkable woman who will continue to be remembered for many years to come, especially because she is still taking an active stand against any form of social injustice that takes form within the world.

Born Mary Yuriko Nakahara on May 19th, 1921, Yuri Kochiyama grew up in a predominantly white middle-class neighborhood in San Pedro, California. Growing up with first generation Japanese parents, Yuri’s home life was quite different than her outside life. At home, she would speak Japanese and eat traditional Japanese cuisine, while outside of the home she would be described as an ‘all-American girl.’ She was very involved in her adolescent years and kept busy. The clubs and affiliations she belonged to included the local YWCA, Girl Scouts, and her local Presbyterian church. These volunteer activities helped gear Kochiyama towards the political activist she has become today. As a teen she wrote her own personal views and beliefs in statement aptly titled ‘My Creed...22.’ In this statement, Kochiyama declared ideals in which she chose to live her life by. Specific points mentioned within ‘Creed’ in Passing It On to which may be of interest were the following:

To never break one link of friendship, regardless of the time or distance that separates me from that friend, even if that friendship is only a memory stored away in my heart or mind.

To never humiliate or look down on any person, group, creed, religion, nationality, race, employment, or station in life, but rather to respect.

To take every disappointment, disillusion, sorrow, and grief as a part of life; to never expect another to be indebted to help me, but should I be able to help anyone, to be grateful that I could be of use.

For any eighteen year old to write such noble and heartfelt things in which they strive to live their life by is truly amazing. Compared to any other typical American eighteen year old, Kochiyama is quite unique in the fact that she is truly caring for the well being of mankind as a whole and believes that any unequal treatment should not be tolerated. Kochiyama was thinking not only about herself, but for other individuals as well. She does not give ‘Creed’ the credit of her awakening to the political world, but rather a day that will continue to live on in the lives of Americans for many years to come, the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

December 7th, 1941 changed the lives of the entire Kochiyama and all Americans for the rest of their lives. When Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese during WW2, no Asian American’s life was ever the same. Kochiyama says before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she saw America through the eyes of an American, but afterward she saw America and the rest of the world in Asian American eyes, (Kochiyama xxiii). The feelings of resentment she had must have been intense towards America, due to the thousands of Japanese Americans that were sent to interment camps if they had more than 1/16th Japanese blood within them. Kochiyama’s story unfolds just hours after the bombing occurred, when three FBI agents came to the family household and apprehended her father, Seiichi Nakahara, who had just recently gotten home from the hospital following treatment for diabetes and a stomach ulcer. As it turns out the FBI had intercepted “suspicious” mail from Mr. Nakahara and were also interested in the fact that Nakahara owned a short-wave radio that operated with an outside antenna on the house. After detaining Mr. Nakahara for nearly a year, he was released and died a few days after his release. From encountering such horrible experiences faced not only by the Kochiyama family but other Asian Americans, she has passionately devoted her time, effort, and life to prevent and stop any other racial ideology that she could.

The lives of all Asian Americans changed the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On February 19th, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forced nearly 120,000 Asian Americans into internment camps (similar to concentration camps). After the bombing, all Asian Americans were seen as spies to the U.S. government and weren’t to be trusted, and the best way to deal with these “spies” was to send them to internment camps. Of the Asian Americans that were sent to the internment camps, nearly two-thirds were American citizens, and one-fourth of them were children under the age of fifteen. As a matter of fact, only ten people were ever caught as being a spy for the Japanese, all of which were Caucasian. Internees dealt with many hardships; including the fact that most of these individuals were given 48 hours or less to get rid of most of their possessions, as they were only allowed to take the bare essentials. These hardships did not end here; within the internment camps all Asian Americans were housed in barracks, and were given communal shower, eating, and laundry privileges. They were also given improper medical care, which ended up costing many of these individuals their lives. It wasn’t until January of 1945 that all internees were allowed to return to their homes, (World War Two).

Yuri was not the only one within the Kochiyama family to become such a loyal activist. She spread her active stance against social injustice not only to her friends and acquaintances, but also to her six children, all of whom participated in demonstrations and protests with their mother at a young age. Yuri’s children; Billy, Audee, Aichi, Eddie, Jimmy, and Tommy all followed in the footsteps of their mother, as they all grew up in the housing projects in Harlem – “a community thriving with social, political, and cultural activity,” (Kochiyama 47). This setting was a breeding ground for political awareness, not to mention Kochiyama’s approach to teaching her children about racial and political injustice at a young age and in a rather strict way. For example, when four African American girls were killed in a bombing of a Presbyterian church in Alabama in 1963, Yuri decided that she and the rest of her family would not celebrate Christmas that year. Looking back, Kochiyama regrets doing such an act, as to deprive the younger children of many fun times in which the older children were able to participate in the past. Although the absence of common practices such as Christmas helped her children gain some insight as to the pain experienced by those of the unfortunate, one can’t help but think that it was a harsh reality check to children who were under ten years of age. Yet, it did implant in their minds that people of ethnicity should not face inequality, at a young age.

The one individual who truly inspired Yuri Kochiyama would definitely be Malcolm X. Kochiyama was fortunate enough to meet Malcolm on more than one occasion. Her first meeting with Malcolm occurred at CORE protest that was demanding jobs for both African American and Puerto Rican construction workers. She was intimidated by him, and wasn’t sure whether or not to approach and talk to him. After some convincing from a friend, she went up to Malcolm and asked to shake his hand. When he asked what for, she replied, “What you’re doing for your people – for giving them direction.” He took a step toward Yuri and stuck out his hand, (Fujino 136). Yuri must have made some kind of impact on the great Malcolm X, for he would end up being a friend to her by the time of his death on February 21st, 1965.

Kochiyama was even graced by his presence later the following year when she invited him to her home in Harlem on June 6th, 1964. The occasion was one of which three hibakusha writers were in the U.S. for a world tour in which they were speaking about nuclear proliferation, (Kochiyama 67). These three A-bomb survivors wanted no more than to meet Malcolm X themselves, so Yuri contacted his office and tried her hardest to get him to visit her house, where a reception would take place. She was told not to expect Malcolm; that he’d never come. So she went on preparing for the rest of the meeting, booking a few cultural performances and speakers. Kochiyama took quite a risk in arranging a reception where the main attraction may or may not show up for.

The day of the reception, Kochiyama states that the A-bomb survivors wished to go off to explore on their own, and not have overly protective Americans watching their every move. After this access was granted, the survivors visited many local places within the Harlem community, including the ‘world’s worst fair’- which was opened up in one of the most impoverished communities within Harlem. This ‘fair’ allowed any tourist to see the ways in which truly poor neighborhoods were forced to live, including broken windows, toilets that would not flush, and garbage-filled streets. After sightseeing at such places, the hibakusha returned to the Kochiyama residence in time for the reception. Not soon after, there was a knock on the door and Malcolm X walked in, to many people’s surprise. Kochiyama describes Malcolm as being extremely gracious, and willing to shake people’s hands. He also thanked the A-bomb survivors and said to them something to the extent of, “Thank you for visiting the ‘World’s worst fair.’ You have been scarred by the atom bomb. You just saw that we have been scarred, but the bomb that hit us was racism,” (Kochiyama 69). Malcolm continued to keep in touch with Yuri and her family, and would send them postcards while on his travels. Over the years, she collected a total of 11 different postcards from Malcolm X.

Yuri was not only interested in the civil rights protests throughout the world; she also actively took a position against all political prisoners. In ‘Passing It On’ Kochiyama states, “When we think of statistics which impact people of color, we cannot help but surmise that racism, classism, and politics weight heavily in the criminal justice system.” People are treated unjustly within the entire legal system; whether it is in the jury selection, poor defense, police intimidation of witnesses, or long stays in solitary confinements. Such harsh treatment should not occur on the basis or such sensitive classes as race. She even goes further on the topic as to say, “Prison is not a place of rehabilitation; it is a place for punishment, isolation, and humiliation,” (Kochiyama 127). These prisoners which had affiliations with a political group, or were activists before incarceration were of concern to Ms. Kochiyama. Yuri received and wrote letters to various people, one of which was a leader of the RNA (Republic of New Africa) with whom she corresponded for many years named Mtayari Shabaka Sundiata.

Mtayari was Kochiyama’s first teacher in the RNA’s Nation Building class. He was the first to administer the oath of the RNA to Yuri and on September 13th, 1969 Yuri Kochiyama was made an honorary citizen of the Republic of New Africa. The RNA was founded at a conference of militant black activists who all met in Detroit in 1968. When the original manifesto of the party was created, it demanded the states Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina to be ceded to the RNA, along with $400 billion in reparations for unjust treatment of African Americans prior to desegregation in the U.S, (Republic).

Kochiyama and Mtayari corresponded with each other for over six years while he served time in Green Haven Prison throughout the 1970’s. She has kept all the letters written from Mtayari because they express the hardships felt by everyone while in prison, not only did prisoners deal with the extreme loneliness and horrid conditions, but must somehow struggle to keep sane while so many years in solitude without an end in sight, as many prisoners experience. In ‘Passing It On,’ Mtayari writes, “It takes a very strong and dedicated man to survive this war of the mind. He must have something to stimulate his will to survive this war of the mind; otherwise, he will blow his mind by surrendering himself to the octopus.” Not only did these individuals face the struggle of racism while on the outside, but faced an even larger struggle of keeping their mentality while in complete solitude in prison for many years. While writing back and forth to Kochiyama, Mtayari would still educate and inform Yuri not only about prison life, but would also teacher her more about the RNA and other political problems in which he had been researching. Yuri also reciprocated by telling Mtayari about other world issues that had come up such as the Vietnam War, or struggles faced by other ethnic groups. In a way, they were both focused on teaching one another in topics in which they were specialized in. Kochiyama learned much from Mtayari and states, “How fortunate I was to have had Mtayari as my mentor and comrade,” (Kochiyama 133).

Yuri Kochiyama’s work doesn’t end there. Even at the age of sixty-seven, she was still on the move. This time, she took a chance and applied for a chance to go to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade in 1988. The Venceremos Brigade is a left-wing organization that was comprised of many different nationalities including, Latinos, Blacks, Middle Easterners, Asians, and Caucasians. Almost eleven percent of the group consisted of senior citizens, so Yuri was not the lone person in her sixties at the time. I personally don’t know any person over the age of sixty-five who would volunteer their retirement time to go and volunteer in such a foreign place as Cuba, especially since the country is seen in such a negative light with their socialist viewpoints. While in Cuba the group visited hospitals, schools, and construction sights, and even a senior citizen housing complex to see how they differed from that in America. The entire trip left Yuri feeling that no one in Cuba seemed to be marginalized, which is the exact opposite in America. “Cuba is truly a nation whose primary concern is the basic needs of her 10 million people,” (Kochiyama 152). In America, we are too concerned with building condos, penthouses, and summer homes for the wealthy and ignoring the thousands of people on the street. Yet in Cuba, Kochiyama describes the construction going on within Cuban towns to meet needs of housing, education, and healthcare. The socialist objective is even abundant within the prisons. At a women’s correction facility toured by the group, women were allowed to postpone or delay their prison sentence, should a medical or family emergency arise. These objectives helped create more humane conditions within the prisons of Cuba.

Yuri Kochiyama is quite a remarkable woman within our society. From an early age, Kochiyama strived to live her live as true to her values as possible. By writing ‘My Creed…22’ around the age when most teenagers hardly care about anyone but themselves, she set her own standard to which she chose to live; to stand up against injustice or inequality of a person or group of people. Many activists today could learn a thing or two from Ms. Kochiyama; she not only stood up for what she believed was right but also stood up for the marginalized people around the world. By living her life to the fullest and by continuing to take a political stance at the age of eighty-five, she will continue to inspire and amaze people with different races and beliefs, as they once inspired her to stand up and make a change in this world.

Sources
Fujino, Diane C. Heartbeat of Struggle. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

Kochiyama, Yuri. Passing It On. Los Angeles: UCLA Asian American Studies Press, 2004.

Republic of New Africa. Wikipedia

World War Two: Japanese Internment Camps in the USA. History on the Net