The Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X Mural Project: From Harlem With Love

Shortly after Yuri’s passing in 2014, a group of artists, activists and educators came together, in coordination with the Kochiyama family, to organize a Harlem-based community mural project in honor of Yuri Kochiyama and her mentor and friend, Malcolm X. The goal was to build community and solidarity by educating about the relationship between Yuri and Malcolm and how their experiences, ideas, and work connected and overlapped. Over the course of more than two years, the group organized and participated in 7 public, multicultural, multigenerational community-building events throughout New York City in a diverse set of locations, ranging from the Brooklyn Museum to the Manhattanville Projects to a Know Your Rights event with Colin Kaepernick at the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated.

The community-designed and -produced mural, titled “From Harlem with Love” (also known as the “YK-MX mural”), was completed in the summer of 2016. The mural is located in Harlem on Old Broadway between 125th and 126th streets, across the street from the Manhattanville Projects where Yuri and Bill Kochiyama raised their children and organized for 4 decades. The YK-MX organizers continue to collaborate with the Kochiyama family to build community and educate about the relationship between Yuri and Malcolm X and the lessons we can learn from them as we continue to work toward justice for all oppressed people.