Watch and comment on Facebook or YouTube

This discussion centers on the inspiring force of activist Yuri Kochiyama (1921–2014), whose work to build community and solidarity across racial and generational lines in the decades after World War II is a timely model for today’s movement building and efforts toward meaningful allyship.

In the 1960s, the Harlem apartment of Yuri and Bill Kochiyama was a hub of community service and social justice mobilization. During her sixty years of activism, Yuri was involved in Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity, the Republic of New Africa, Puerto Rican nationalism, Japanese American redress and reparations, and countless actions supporting human rights.

Dr. Karen L. Ishizuka, filmmaker and chief curator at the Japanese American National Museum, moderates a discussion about Yuri’s life, influence, and legacies with singer-songwriter Nobuko Miyamoto, public artist Tomie Arai, and writer Kai Naima Williams.

Sponsor

This program is presented in partnership with Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.