The DC Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (OAPIA) expressed their profound sadness and mourn the passing of prominent civil rights pioneer Yuri Kochiyama.
Born and raised in California, Yuri Kochiyama and her family were relocated to internment camps shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the 1960s, Yuri and her husband Bill Kochiyama moved to Harlem in New York City, where she began her involvement in the civil rights movement and committed the rest of her life to activism, spending the last years inspiring countless young activists.
“Yuri Kochiyama was regarded as an influential voice for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) activists during the civil rights movement, and one who was able to build strong coalitions across racial and ethnic lines,” said Soohyun “Julie” Koo, OAPIA Director. “As we mourn her passing in the District of Columbia and nationwide, we will continue to remember her commitment to the AAPI community and the lasting impacts of her legacy.”
Some may know her as the middle-aged Japanese American woman in the 1965 LIFE magazine photograph where she cradled Malcolm X shortly after he had been fatally shot. Kochiyama met Malcolm X in 1963, and later became involved with black nationalism. Kochiyama served as a bridge between African American and Asian American communities due to her involvement and understanding of both communities. In the 1980s, Yuri and her husband pushed to ensure Japanese American internment reparations and a formal government apology from the federal government, which was realized with the signing of the Civil Liberties Act in 1988.
Yuri Kochiyama’s life and work embody Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s vision of “One City,” when as a teenager she described her plans to lead her life, “To never humiliate or look down on any person, group, creed, religion, nationality, race, employment, or station in life, but rather to respect.”
