Anti-imperialism and Human Rights
Yuri Kochiyama’s transformation from a liberal civil rights activist to a self-described “revolutionary international anti-imperialist” was a gradual process influenced and informed by her lived experiences and the many people she met — during internment, as a parent and activist raising children in Harlem, through her education as a student and disciple of Malcolm X, in Freedom Schools and through her membership and participation in various movements and organizations over the course of many years.
Beginning in the mid 1960s, Yuri engaged in a wide range of anti-imperialist, anti-war, anti-racist struggles and movements. Some of her activities, among many others, included hosting the Hiroshima Maidens (survivors of the atomic bomb) and the Hiroshima/Nagasaki World Peace Study Mission at her home in Harlem; supporting movements for Native American sovereignty, Puerto Rican independence, and Palestinian liberation; and participating in the 19th Venceremos Brigade to Cuba.
But the seeds of Yuri’s propensity toward anti-racism and fairness, her humility, empathy and love of humanity, her self-discipline, commitment to friendship and innate passion for justice can be detected in her personal practice and writing much earlier.
