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.