the relentlessly optimistic activist
yuri kochiyama knew you couldn't fix society's wrongs with misery and loneliness. through community, joy, and morale, she made life better for millions.
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god activism today can feel so depressing. between sharing an instagram post, filming a strongly-worded tiktok, or getting into a fight with a terminally online leftist, it seems like we are not accomplishing much at all. and we aren’t. because activism should not feel so isolating and competitive. in the end there are so many of us who want the same goals - today’s being affordable housing and streets safe from ice, among others. for real change, activism requires effort.
yuri kochiyama - a japanese american peace activist who was especially active during ww2 and the civil rights era - took it even a step further and made it kinda fun. from hosting parties and group activities, yuri implicitly understood that without good morale, nothing tangible can be achieved. there’s no such thing as “best activist” - we are all in this fight.
yuri kochiyama was born mary yuriko nakahara in 1921. her father emigrated to the us in 1907 and in the next few years built a successful fishmongering business. as a result, yuri enjoyed a comfortable childhood - a fact that people today believe makes a disingenuous activist - yet yuri always noticed the cracks in the facade.
she became her school’s first female student body officer and wrote for the school newspaper. she went to church yet openly criticized the parts of religion that were male-centric. yuri went to sports games and would only root for the underdog team.
and perhaps her most modern-day-leftist behavior: she’d have her parents drop her off a mile from school, allegedly embarrassed of her parents’ fancy car and opulence. lmao.
yuri graduated in 1941 and was searching for employment in journalism. she got declined for jobs due to her racial background, but she was determined and still headed down a path for success. yuri had a passion for community involvement that was rooted in her christianity. she dreamed of getting married and having kids, though she reportedly sucked at housework.
“political philosophy is not just something you obtain, it’s something that you develop through your lifetime. and of course, as different events happen to you and different people you meet and writings that you read, your philosophy is going to change.”
-yuri kochiyama
on december 7, 1941 yuri’s entire life changed. the us base of pearl harbor was bombed by japan, cementing america’s joining in ww2. in reaction, america does the most america thing ever: if country of ___ did this, then everyone from that country must automatically be responsible.
yuri came home from teaching at sunday school to find fbi agents in her home. her father, who was recovering from surgery, was whisked away to detention under suspicion he was a japanese spy. the suspicion came partly from the fact that her father’s fishmongering business worked with japanese ships and he hosted ship officials in his home. her father was not a spy. yet his six-week detention aggravated his health problems and he died in early 1942.
in february 1942, yuri and her family were sent to a detention camp in arkansas in accordance with president FDR’s executive order that forced japanese americans to internment camps, under the suspicion that they could be spying for japan (spoiler: they were not).
yuri maintained positivity in internment. she and other women welcomed new arrivals to the camp with upbeat tunes. yuri also urged other detainees to write letters of support to japanese american soldiers serving in the us military. her old diaries show a growing rage over racism and government abuses, yet a prolonged effort to maintain joy and morale within the camps.
despite the horrors, yuri really found love in a hopeless place. she took a volunteering position at an all-japanese organization in mississipi that helped stationed military members, in exchange for leaving the detention camp. here she met her future husband bill, a soldier who chose to fight in the war so he would not have to stay in the camps. bill and yuri would go on to be married for 47 years.
after ww2 ended, bill and yuri moved to new york city, where her apartment was a sort of “activist hub.” yuri really illustrates how activism thrives off community here. in 1950 as the korean war was once again having soldiers sent abroad, bill and yuri opened their home to japanese american servicemen before they were shipped out, offering a sense of cameraderie. every friday and saturday night, their homes were filled with army people, many of whom were complete strangers.
“i didn’t wake up and decide to become an activist. but you couldn’t help notice the inequities, the injustices. it was all around you.”
-yuri kochiyama
in 1960, yuri, bill, and their six kids move to an apartment located in harlem, where she met black and puerto rican people who’d tell her about their struggles. she joined grassroots activism and began campaigning for better schools and the end of job discrimination. yuri was arrested for blocking the entrance to a construction site, where she was demanding jobs for black and puerto rican workers.
and then - an insane crossover happens. in 1963, yuri meets malcolm x. malcolm x advocated for black people to build their own society, economy, and self-reliant communities separate from white people. yuri did not agree with this stance and she told him immediately upon meeting him. yet she was drawn to malcolm’s bold stances on black liberation and the two eventually forged an alliance.
yuri then fully immerses herself in black activism, even becoming one of the few non-black activists to advocate for a separate black nation in america. as the civil rights movement grew, the fbi began to crack down on black activists. yuri dove into letter-writing for prisoners again. she likened her experience in japanese detention camps to what black activists are going through now.
yuri would organize letter-writing groups, often writing till 2 or 3 in the morning.
yuri was a firm believer in the power of solidarity among marginalized communities. she knew that the struggles against racism, imperialism, and injustice were interconnected. she was instrumental and a pioneer of linking asian american struggles to the plight of black liberation. in addition that that, she also advocated for puerto rican self-determination.
in the 1980s, yuri and bill were majorly involved the japanese redress movement, a decades-long effort to get the us government to apologize and compensate japanese americans for their unfair internment in the 1940s. after multiple hearings and collecting statements from almost 800 witness, ronald reagan in 1988 signs the civil liberties act, formally apologizing to japanese americans and granting survivors $20,000.
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you have to wonder how long yuri would’ve lasted if she did activism by today’s standards: alone in her room, sharing an infographic or maybe penning a strongly-worded substack. it’s impossible to blame any of us doing so, modern capitalist conditions have made it so people spend so many hours of the day just trying to make enough to pay rent, that this is often all we can do.
and if that’s the case, yuri still reminds us that we don’t have to go at it alone. there are vibrant communities that exist in joy and a shared vision, no matter how bleak the outcomes feel. sure we may not have homes that can host hundreds of soldiers like she did, but yuri would’ve killed for the internet’s ability to connect thousands of us in a shared vision.
there are so many groups today that show the success of community-based activism: local mutual aid groups that serve people food, like when snap was at risk of going; climate defiance, a group who regularly disrupts fossil fuel ceo’s meetings with exceedingly funny - and illuminating - sketches; zohran mamdani’s canvassing efforts that have spawned many friendships and relationships.
all of these show that activism should feel communal and empowering, maybe even a little silly sometimes.
sources: encyclopedia densho, nps, wiki, center for asian american media, ucla, zinn project