Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

A powerful role model for women and men of every background, Yuri Kochiyama has emerged as a leader in movements as diverse as political prisoners, Japanese American redress, and Black Liberation.

(Part of Women’s History Month: "We’ve Got A Long Way To Go Baby.")

at Cal State-LA


Alhambra Room, U-SU

on Wednesday, March 05, 2003 7:00PM

Call the Cross Cultural Centers at (323) 343-5001 for more information.

from War Time article, "It's Time To Work Together" by Josina Morita

Yuri Kochiyama has been a racial justice and human rights activist for more than four decades.

She and her family were interned in 1942 with more than 120,000 other Japanese Americans during World War II. A close friend of Malcolm X, Kochiyama became politically active in the 1960s, while living in Harlem with her husband and six children.

She has spent much of her life working across racial lines to build multiracial support for the end of South African apartheid and the war in Vietnam, and for redress for Japanese Americans, Puerto Rican independence and Cuban solidarity. Kochiyama, who recently moved to Oakland, Calif. from Harlem, currently works on political prisoner issues and regularly speaks out against the “war on terrorism.”

Q: Do you think there are similarities between the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the mass detention of Arabs and Muslims today?

There is great similarity. The United States has gained support for its wars by using media to whip up war hysteria. During World War II they demonized the Japanese; today they are demonizing Muslims and Arabs. And just as the war against Japan during World War II resulted in the racial profiling and internment of Japanese in America, the “war on terrorism” has resulted in the racial profiling and detainment of Arabs, Muslims, South Asians and all people of color living in the U.S. today.

The government arrested over 1,300 Japanese immigrants in the first 48 hours after Pearl Harbor. My father was picked up hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We didn’t know where they took my father. Today I think a lot of families don’t know whether their husbands, brothers and fathers have been detained or deported. Because we had been victimized years ago, we should be the ones in the front supporting in whatever way possible Muslims, Arabs and South Asians.

Q: What do you think about the

“war on terrorism”?

The goal of the war is more than just getting oil and fuel. The United States is set on taking over the world. It’s important that we all understand that the main terrorist and the main enemy of the world’s people is the U.S. government. Racism has been a weakness of this country from the beginning. Throughout history, all people of color, and all people who don’t see eye to eye with the U.S. government have been subjected to American terror. U.S. intentions have been known for so long, but I feel that right now is a dangerous time for the whole world.

Q: Why should Asian Americans oppose the “war on terrorism”?

The “war on terrorism” has expanded into different areas including Asian countries. Already the U.S. has sent its military to the Philippines and it is threatening North Korea. And look what’s happening in South Asia, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Coalitions are very important. If you think about the Vietnam War, it was everybody working together that made that movement grow so fast and it was effective. More and more people are seeing that we have to work together. We must work together to define for ourselves what terrorism is and what resistance is. If ever there was a time when we needed to work together, now is the time. The future is certainly going to be challenging.

For some more info:

• knowing our history
  
  
• with justice in her heart
  
  
• from 'lest we forget', a documentary on parallels between Japanese-American internment during WWII and post-9-11 U.S.A.
  
  
• A History of Linkage: African and Asian, African-American and Asian-American