Memoir by Yuri Kochiyama, Renowned Human Rights Activist, Wins Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for 2004

A memoir by renowned human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, which was published by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, received a Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for 2004.

The award honors "authors and books that challenge ways of thinking and acting, that allow the many faces and facets of bigotry to replicate over and over again," according to Loretta J. Williams, director of the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights.

"Passing It On - A Memoir" is the account of Kochiyama, 83, an extraordinary Japanese American woman who spoke out and fought shoulder-to-shoulder with African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and whites for social justice, civil rights, and prisoner and women's rights in the United States and internationally for more than half a century. A prolific writer and speaker on human rights, Kochiyama has spoken at more than 100 colleges, universities and high schools in the United States and Canada.

"We are very pleased that Yuri Kochiyama's memoir has received this special national recognition," said Don Nakanishi, director of UCLA's Asian American Studies Center. "She has been at the forefront of human rights and social justice issues for decades, and has written a remarkable book filled with reflections, insights and lessons."

The book has been so popular that it will go into a second printing, less than a year since it was released.

The Gustavus Myers Center praised the book for offering "insight into social conditions for Japanese Americans, and into those alliance builders who chose to work for social justice for all who are oppressed."

"The reader learns about the experiences and consequences for families torn away by the government's internment processes and camps in the 40s, about love and perseverance in raising socially conscious children in the midst of progressive movements of the mid- and latter-20th century, and about a stalwart activist's decades of work for political empowerment, racial justice, Puerto Rican independence, Third World liberation, working class equity, reparations, freedom for political prisoners, ethnic studies and more," the Gustavus Myers Center stated.

The book includes 90 photos and 31 historical documents, which are part of the Yuri Kochiyama Collection at UCLA. It was edited by Marjorie Lee, Audee Kochiyama-Holman and Akemi Kochiyama-Sardinha.

A chapter of the book is devoted to Kochiyama's friendship with Malcolm X. In 1964 Malcolm X attended a gathering at the family's home for three writers of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki World Peace Study Mission. Malcolm X developed a friendship with the Kochiyama family and sent them 11 postcards from his travels abroad.

On Feb. 21, 1965, Kochiyama was in the audience when Malcolm X gave a speech at the Audubon Ballroom.

"I was in the audience when Malcolm X was assassinated and immediately ran onstage as soon as he fell to the floor," she wrote. "Cradling his head in my hands, I was shocked."

The book is available for purchase through the UCLA AASC Press Publications. Please click here for more information and ordering information.