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Throughline

Our Own People

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.715K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Build bridges, not walls." Solidarity was at the heart of Yuri Kochiyama's work. A Japanese-American activist whose early political awakenings came while incarcerated in the concentration camps of World War II America, Kochiyama dedicated her life to social justice and liberation movements. As hate crimes against AAPI people surge in this country, we reflect on Yuri Kochiyama's ideas around the Asian American struggle, and what solidarity and intersectionality can mean for all struggles.

Transcript

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0:00.0

A quick note before we get started.

0:02.1

This episode contains descriptions of racial violence.

0:14.0

The date was February 21st.

0:17.9

It was of Sunday.

0:19.0

Yuri and her oldest son, Billia, teenager, were among the audience in the Audubon Ballroom

0:34.1

in Harlem to listen to Malcolm give his message.

0:39.6

I think that whole week there was a lot of rumors going on that something might happen to Malcolm.

0:46.1

Brother Malcolm had the week before, had his house bomb bombed.

0:51.6

As many of you know, somebody threw some bombs inside my house.

0:56.8

Normally I wouldn't get excited over a few bombs, but the ones who threw these aimed them in room

1:04.2

where three of my daughters sleep. One daughter fixed one daughter for and one daughter too.

1:11.2

And on that day, February 21, 1965, when Brother Malcolm got up to speak, there was a distraction

1:22.4

in the audience.

1:33.0

And just then the gunfire went off and his hand was up.

1:36.3

I remember this.

1:36.9

I turned around quickly and the next thing I saw was Malcolm falling back in a

1:40.9

dead thing.

1:44.0

He fell back with gunshots to his chest.

1:47.4

You know, tears were being knocked over.

1:49.1

There were screams.

1:50.0

Everybody was in a mad confusion.

1:55.2

And in this commotion, of course everyone dumped for cover, including Yuri and her son,

...

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