Zuri Kochiyama and her Fight for Change

Zuri Kochiyama

Kochiyama was an American Activist during the civil rights period. She was fighting for human rights and to fix the in justness in America.

One day when her father was just out of surgery he randomly got arrested because he was the only “Asian man in the hospital” right after the Pearl Habor in Pedro California. They would then put a sheet on his body and put a sign that said “Prisoner of War”. Her father would then die soon after.

President Roosevelt in 1943 would declare an Excutive Order 9066 that would send Kochiyama and her family to a concentration camp in Arkansa for two years. This would spark up her belief that the government abuses their power and that she needed to help others who are going through this. 

She would start her activism in Harlem where she participated in many movements. Then be involved with a organization that would help with Self defensive called Young Lords and the Harlem Community. She also found the Asian Americans for Action Fund her goal was to “increase the voice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in every level of local, state and federal government in the United States”. 

Her organization would also link itself to struggles that Black people would experience. In 1963 Kochiyama would meet Malcolm X and join his group, the Organization for Afro-American Unity this would then spark a friendship.

Yuri Kochiyama was ambitious and a fighter. She used her voice to build up other who looked like her and who didn’t. The pain Kochiyama experience would be used to dedicate her life to social change. Thank you, Yuri Kochiyama!