Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama

Critical American Studies

by Diane C. Fujino

On February 12, 1965, in the Audubon Ballroom, Yuri Kochiyama cradled Malcolm X in her arms as he died, but her role as a public servant and activist began much earlier than this pivotal public moment. Heartbeat of Struggle is the first biography of this courageous woman, the most prominent Asian American activist to emerge during the 1960s. Based on extensive archival research and interviews with Kochiyama's family, friends, and the subject herself, Diane C. Fujino traces Kochiyama's life from an "all-American" childhood to her achievements as a tireless defender of - and fighter for - human rights. Raised by a Japanese immigrant family in California during the 1920s and 1930s, Kochiyama was active in sports, school, and church. She was both unquestioningly patriotic and largely unconscious of race and racism in the United States. After Pearl Harbor, however, Kochiyama's family was among the thousands of Japanese Americans forcibly removed to internment camps for the duration of the war, a traumatic experience that opened her eyes to the existence of social injustice. After the war, Kochiyama moved to New York. It was in the context of the vibrant Black movement in Harlem in the 1960s that she began her activist career. There, she met Malcolm X, who inspired her radical political development and the ensuing four decades of incessant work for Black liberation, Asian American equality, Puerto Rican independence, and political prisoner defense. Kochiyama is widely respected for her work in forging unity among diverse communities, especially between Asian and African Americans. Fujino, a scholar and activist, offers an in-depth examination of Kochiyama's political awakening, rich life, and impressive achievements with particular attention to how her public role so often defied gender, racial, and cultural norms. Heartbeat of Struggle is a source of inspiration and guidance for anyone committed to social change.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Activism, Asian American, Memoir, Biography Memoir

432 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2005

About the author

Diane C. Fujino's research and teaching interests center on Asian American social movements, Japanese American radicalism, Afro-Asian solidarities, race and gender studies, and biography and oral history. Her study of legendary activist Yuri Kochiyama developed into the first biography of an Asian American woman activist, Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama (Minnesota Press, 2005), and a gendered analysis of leadership in an essay in Want to Start a Revolution: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle. Her edited book, Wicked Theory, Naked Practice (Minnesota Press, 2009), examines the Afro-Asian influences on the music and Left politics of Fred Ho. Fujino's current project, Samurai Among Panthers, studies the life of Richard Aoki, a leader of the Black Panther Party, Third World strike at UC Berkeley, and Asian American Political Alliance. She published the first historiography of Asian American social movement studies in The Journal of Asian American Studies (2008). She has also published essays in a range of scholarly and activist journals and anthologies, including Social Justice, Journal of Men's Studies, AFRO/ASIA, Teaching Asian America, Dragon Ladies, and Legacy to Liberation.

Fujino is associate professor and chairof Asian American studies and an affiliate faculty member of Black studies at UC Santa Barbara. Before coming to UCSB, she earned her Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA, was an Institute of American Cultures postdoctoral fellow at UCLA Asian American studies, and a postdoctoral fellow at the National Research Center on Asian American Mental Heath.

(from http://www.asamst.ucsb.edu/people/dia...)

Reviews

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting individual but terrible book. I had never heard of Kochiyama until after her death in 2014. The obituarious made me realize that yet again, there was a part of history that I was not familiar with and should learn more about. It seemed like it would be a good time to read up more about a woman who held Malcolm X as he died and had once been interned in the Japanese internment camps. Who was this Japanese-American activist who lived in Harlem and would eventually praise Osama bin Laden?
 
The book is a look at her life and work. I'm not going to rehash it here because honestly while the subject is certainly deserving of an in-depth look this text is definitely not it. There is simply too much information (for example, much of the details about her children and family could have been reduced) that is also presented in perhaps a much too positive manner.
 
For example, when Kochiyama meets Malcolm X (and as a common happening), we really only know about the meeting/conversation/etc. from Kochiyama's POV. The author occasionally extrapolates and assumes too much without supporting quotes or information. I understand that it's a biography and the author has reasons to portray the subject as she does, but I couldn't help but be a bit skeptical about the author perhaps assuming how others perceived Kochiyama. I'm not saying that author Fujino is lying or made up any of the material, but having other supporting quotations or sources within the text would have been super helpful.
 
I really wanted to stick with it because I wanted to see how the Kochiyama could eventually get to the point where she'd praise bin Laden (which I only knew after I purchased this book and it came to light via a Google Doodle). While the reader can probably see this path from the book and her life, Fujino only really touches upon this in the Epilogue (bin Laden doesn't show up in the glossary either).
 
Kochiyama sounds like an interesting person and I'd be curious to know what she might have said about the banning of the movement of Muslims and the citation of the Japanese internment camps. However I would have to be skeptical about the picture Fujino paints and hope that others will take up her story as one to write about as well. I regret buying this and would urge a reader to try to borrow it from the library or buy it used. At the very least I'd recommend Googling her and looking up some of the interviews and commentary about her and learn a bit of history that's probably not taught unless it's in very specific circles.

[Davina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm X died on the arms of this woman, get up on it.

[alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book even though it took me like six months to finish. I learned a lot and Yuri is really fascinating.

[Marleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yuri is a Nikkei revolutionary. She was incarcerated during World War II at Manzanar. She was always active and popular and had many friends. When she and her husband Bill moved to New York, they lived in Harlem. There's was one of the few Asian families in the community. This led her to making friends and connections.. Yuri became more politically conscious. She carried around a notebook and was always putting down people's names and contact information. She and Bill sent out over 3000 Christmas letter greetings for many years. They opened their homes on Friday and Saturday nights for dinner and talking late into the night. Even though they had six kids, they opened their home for anyone who needed a place to stay. Bill became active in the Redress movement. Because of Yuri's political activity and her contact with organizations like the Black Panthers, the FBI had surveilled her and her activities.

[Lo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fujino composes a brilliant political biography of one of the greatest activists of the 20th century. An important thing to be aware of in biographies is painting characters in a light more favorable, or even skewing their personality, commitments, ideology. Fujino i believe does an exceptional job actually defining Yuri Kochiyama as a real, amazing, and yet flawed person. A biography that puts to work a dialectical framework, whereupon the social movements and individuals within both relate and move with one another. Not where a person represents the entirety of a Movement, or is the vanguard of the people, rather how an individual can make an impact on a people, giving them direction. Fujino also refrains from shero worship, framing all triumphs and failures together. Because that is what makes a revolutionary person, to make mistakes and grow as a person.

The story of a woman that grew up believing in the American ideals. That racism and oppression were interpersonal and not systematic. That has the originations of an activist in Japanese concentration camps to the civil rights movement. But at the ripe age of 42, became a stalwart in the fight for the total liberation of Puerto Rican, Asian, and Black people in America. From being a law-abiding citizen to being a revolutionary nationalist bent on the international proletarian revolution. Working with icons like Robert Williams and Malcolm X, assisting with the Movement whether CORE and SNCC (integrationist and liberal) to Black Panther Party, OOAU, and RAM (separatist and radical). An activist with contradictions like many of us, but still with a heartbeat for struggle.

Yori Kochiyama is an inspiring story that we all should look at for hope. One of intersectional love for all oppressed peoples. Especially at a time when it seems the Left can be so disjointed, where we are experiencing more police brutality, and more Anti-Asian hate. Yuri’s life teaches us we can still find solidarity and community within each other. Yuri’s legacy is one of incessant, an unwavering struggle for justice. Rest in Power Yuri.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard with a book like this to really know if you’re reviewing the person or the book. Obviously Kochiyama is an extraordinary woman, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to learn about her. The book itself is reads a bit like an academic thesis/treatise, the author just reporting facts and events. The writing itself doesn’t do much to really bring the subject alive. I appreciate the author addressed some criticism of Kochiyama throughout, as well (though did skate over Kochiyama’s statement after 9/11 that Osama bin Laden was one of the men she “most admires in the world”).

In all, the book is worth reading because it’s about a woman not enough people know about or are talking about. It’s not a book that people are going to race through because the author’s pacing is just… not great, but it’s good if taken in small chunks to learn about this woman.

[kathryn donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In explaining the methodology used in researching Kochiyama, the author describes this book as a political biography. Despite what other reviewers wrote, I liked the political analysis and don't think it was written in a heavily academic tone. As a reader, I prefer the author take the time to lay out the facts instead of telling me what I should think.

Loved this book. Took me awhile to read, only because I took so many detours -- pausing to research historical events, movement activists, political prisoners and revolutionary political ideologies in more detail.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This does drag a little sometimes, in the way that more academic books can do, especially in attempts to be thorough and not assume anything.

Despite that, Kochiyama's life story is so interesting, and touches on so many other interesting threads -- the Hiroshima Maidens, the 442nd Infantry (and their cross-cultural difficulties between Hawaiians and mainlanders), political prisoners and Black Panthers -- that it is well worth the read.

[Brit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fujino does an excellent job diving into Yuri Kochiyama's life. At times, her pacing felt monotonous and derivative in content. Mostly, it was intriguing even if it could use some organizational restructuring to move it along and get to the point at times.

[Moo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yuri Kochiyama is an icon and an Asian American hero.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yuri Kochiyama is a famous Japanese American activist, well known for her tireless energy working and organizing in the movement for self determination in the Black and Asian American and Third World communities, in particular her support for political prisoners, and of course her close relationship to Malcolm X. In her biography, "Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama," professor Diane Fujino documents Yuri's life with amazing detail. Everything about Yuri is too unique for anyone's imagination to make up such a person like her - A Japanese American (Nisei), highly devoted Christian with a passion for sports and doing community service, was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp for 3 years, after which she moved to a housing project in Harlem, New York, had 6 kids and became a hardcore, dedicated nationalist revolutionary activist for the Black Liberation movement, Puerto Rican independence movement, and mother to the Asian American movement. She was well into her 40's by the time she met Malcolm and developed such radical politics. The family's little house in Harlem was open to all, sometimes having hundred of people at a time, for days, weeks, and months. She raised her children to become active in the Movement- one her sons organized the first ever anti-war rally in junior high! Family vacations were Freedom Rides through the South, and later, she would bring her grandchildren to 5-10 activist meetings per week. Her paid job was being a waitress at a restaurant. She is best known for remembering the names of every single person she's ever met and acknowleding them personaly in her speeches and articles.

Even as an outspoken believer in controversial issues like armed resistance, Yuri never seeked to denounce people who advocated less radical views , but instead engaged them in further dialogue about where they were coming from. This is the characterisic I most admire in her- that her love of humanity allowed her to connect with all people across the political spectrum. Her passive nature may come off as naive, but clearly since she does have strong beliefs, her inclusivity exemplifies her genuine dedication to building the Movement without alienating people. She was courageous enough to disagree with Malcolm X about his stance against integration..and later humble enough to change her mind and support it.

Growing up with activist parents who like many other Asian Americans have seen Yuri as their mentor, I'm increasingly grateful to this day that I've known Yuri personally my whole life. My parents took me to numerous parties at the Oakland house of her daughter Audee and her husband Herb's house. Raucous laughter, impromptu guitar playing, and endless amounts of food characterized these lively gatherings of both Asian American and Black people. Us kids played basketball in the back, or video games downstairs, trying our best to get along and be patient while our parents partied until the wee hours of the night. I learned to carry a fat book and a deck of cards wherever I went. I had no knowledge of activism or the Asian American movement, and thus no appreciation. Often times, Yuri would be the guest of honor at the parties, as she traveled from New York to visit her daughter. And my parents would excitedly tell me to talk to Yuri, and early on I understood that she was an important person to know. She also shared my love for teady bears. I have a picture with Yuri where it's the two of us surrounded by her collection of bears. I thought she was a sweet old lady, and admired that hundreds of people would come to a party just to meet her.

In college I started to get involved with Asian American activism- and once her name came up, I'd say something like, oh i know her, she's a friend of the family and everyone in the room would gasp. "YOU KNOW YURI KOCHIYAMA?" I shrugged, well yeah, kind of...she's kind of like family. And the room would gasp again. Then my parent's artwork appeared in books like The Movement and the Moment, or name dropped in essays written by prominent AA professors. Especially on the east coast at an elite private white dominated college, it was frustrating to be among few political AA's, and for the first time I became proud of my family's unique history as activists. Every Thanksgiving and holiday season I make sure that I say hi to Yuri, who not only remembers my name, but always kisses my cheek, holds my hand and asks me what I'm doing. In her old age, she has a hard time hearing but she's as present as ever, political stickers completely covering her metal walking device.

What is so amazing about Yuri, is that she would probably insist she's an ordinary woman, no different from any other. Even though she is like God to the relatively small political Asian American community, Yuri is not as famous as say, Martin Luther King, because of her behind-the-scenes work and habit of never taking credit for her contributions, or even a picture of herself. And her complete selflessness is exactly what makes her so extraordinary.

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd been meaning to read this book since I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Yuri was a friend, an ally and a huge fan of Malcolm, and he died in her arms.

When I first started the book I was a little bored by the methodology of the author - it seemed slow moving. But I came to appreciate that she took us moment by moment as Yuri transitioned from a patriotic, color-blind, liberal American (who's family was forced into internment camps during WWII) to a radical movement leader who fought first for civil rights, and then Black nationalism, Puerto Rican independence, the freedom of political prisoners, the establishment of an Asian American movement, and for just trials and treatment of social prisoners.

Yuri's commitment to building community, to humanizing her political work, and to connecting accross various social justice issues is moving and inspiring.

I cried on the subway reading this - to me that earns it a fifth star.

Interesting facts and quotes:
"The 1970 UN resolution 2621 'reaffirms the inherent right of colonial peoples to struggle by all necessary means at their disposal against colonial Powers which suppress their aspiration for freedom and independence.'"

"Without the support of the people, no movement for liberation can exist, no matter how correct its analysis of the situation is."
This quote from Assata Shakur was in the context of avoiding polarization within social justice movemtents.

"One of the most important tasks for Blacks and other oppressed people, wrote Yuri in her class notes, is 'to free our minds, to decolonize our minds'".

"Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality". Malcom X, not talking about suburban aspirations, but of independence and nationhood for all people. This speaks to my support of food sovereignty movements and the right for people to have land and to provide for their communities from that land (it doesn't count when people are cheaply hired hands and growing crops for you and me to buy at Safeway or Keyfoods! And people with absolutely no connection to land is certainly a problem).

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it's sort of interesting the way that Diane Fujino approaches doing a biography. Her introduction is excellent because it really sets up the book. She lets Yuri tell a lot of the story by using the interviews, then she has this sort of dialogue about what she reads in between the lines.

Yuri's an amazing person, so it's also totally worth the read...

But I would love to see more work on Yuri!

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diane Fujino writes a pretty great biography of Yuri Kochiyama, who is truly an amazing person, activist, and organizer. Fujino also provides a good background to the social movements in which Yuri was/is involved and some strong critiques on some of Yuri's current controversial ideas - such as feminism being for white women and creation of a black state made from the current southern United States (formerly indigenous land!).

[Griffin Fujioka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A holistic depiction of Yuri's life that humanizes this extraordinary woman. The book was insightful in many areas including the Japanese-American struggle which took place during Yuri's young life, a number of political movements which Yuri found herself involved in ranging from the 1950s and continuing until her death and ends with an inspiring look into Yuri's later years. RIP Yuri Kochiyama.

[Yvonne]

Just heard a great show on KPFA where Diane Fujino was interviewed, about her essay in a new book on Afro-Asian convergence in radical nationalist movements of the 1960s and 70s. I want to read more!!!

[Madeleine]

From Viv's facebook/ran into it in Suzzallo.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

long overdue biography of Yuri's life. I took off a star because Fujino's analysis, scattered through the book, get a little rambling and conjectural-