Yuri Kochiyamas’s lifetime of activism

Throughline

NPR

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 16.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama lived a life dedicated to social justice for people of all backgrounds. Not only a pillar of the Asian-American movement, she also fought for Black liberation and the rights of political prisoners. Today on the show, how Yuri Kochiyama’s 50 years of activism was informed and practiced.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is America in Pursuit, a limited run series from NPR and Throughline.
0:08.8	I'm Randa Abd al-Fattah.
0:10.8	Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. that began 250 years ago.
0:31.2	The date was February 21st. It was a Sunday.
0:37.0	This is the voice of Yuri Kuchiyama in an archive recording about the fateful day in 1965 when civil rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated.
0:43.3	How do you feel?
0:46.3	Who do we want to hear?
0:49.6	Yuri was there when there was a distraction in the audience.
0:54.6	And just then the gunfire went off, and his hand was up.
0:57.9	I remember this. I turned around quickly, and the next thing I saw was Malcolm falling back in a dead faint.
1:03.2	Yuri ran up to Malcolm X.
1:05.1	And picked up his head and just put it on my lap.
1:09.4	At that moment, someone snapped a photo.
1:12.8	Yuri is dressed in all black, kneeling on the ground.
1:16.2	Her back hunched over Malcolm, her hands holding up his head, and her eyes pointed down
1:21.9	at his face.
1:23.5	And he's in her arms, eyes closed, wounds exposed, white shirt, stained with blood.
1:32.9	This photo is an enduring image of Yuri Kuchiyama. But why was she there? And how did she become an active member of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s and beyond.
1:47.2	Today on the show, the story of Yuri Kuchiyama and how her experience of Japanese internment during World War II
1:54.8	catapulted her into a lifelong fight for social justice and a more just vision of America.
2:02.5	That's coming up after a quick break. December 7th, 1941.
2:22.0	December 7th is a date.
	...

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