Yuri Kochiyama
A Poem
The United States turned their back on her.
They took away her father and her rights.
After Pearl Harbor, life was just a blur,
Living in new internment center sites.
Yuri Kochiyama was forced to live
In one Japanese Internment center.
This terrible experience did give,
Yuri the grit to be a dissenter.
Yuri would dedicate the rest of life
To fighting back against racist effects.
Never content to be just a housewife,
She even worked alongside Malcolm X.
Yuri had to endure criticism,
But she never stopped fighting racism.
Note:
On May 19, 1921, twins were born to Japanese immigrants in San Pedro, California. The babies were named Peter and Mary Yuriko “Yuri” Nakahara. Yuri (Nakahara) Kochiyama would grow up to be a social rights activist and would become an integral part of the civil rights movement.
Yuri, along with her twin and older brother Arthur, grew up in a small working-class neighborhood in San Pedro. While the Nakahara family were working-class, the family grew up rather affluently…
