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"It's
Time to Work Together"
Interview with Yuri Kochiyama
BY
JOSINA MORITA
________________
Yuri Kochiyama
has been a racial justice and human rights activist for more than four
decades.
 She
and her family were interned in 1942 with more than 120,000 other Japanese
Americans during World War II. A close friend of Malcolm X, Kochiyama
became politically active in the 1960s, while living in Harlem with her
husband and six children.
She has spent much of her life working across racial lines to build multiracial
support for the end of South African apartheid and the war in Vietnam,
and for redress for Japanese Americans, Puerto Rican independence and
Cuban solidarity. Kochiyama, who recently moved to Oakland, Calif. from
Harlem, currently works on political prisoner issues and regularly speaks
out against the “war on terrorism.”
Q: Do you think there are similarities between the internment of Japanese
Americans during World War II and the mass detention of Arabs and Muslims
today?
There is great similarity. The United States has gained support for its
wars by using media to whip up war hysteria. During World War II they
demonized the Japanese; today they are demonizing Muslims and Arabs. And
just as the war against Japan during World War II resulted in the racial
profiling and internment of Japanese in America, the “war on terrorism”
has resulted in the racial profiling and detainment of Arabs, Muslims,
South Asians and all people of color living in the U.S. today.
The government arrested over 1,300 Japanese immigrants in the first 48
hours after Pearl Harbor. My father was picked up hours after the bombing
of Pearl Harbor. We didn’t know where they took my father. Today
I think a lot of families don’t know whether their husbands, brothers
and fathers have been detained or deported. Because we had been victimized
years ago, we should be the ones in the front supporting in whatever way
possible Muslims, Arabs and South Asians.
Q: What do you think about the
“war on terrorism”?
The goal of the war is more than just getting oil and fuel. The United
States is set on taking over the world. It’s important that we all
understand that the main terrorist and the main enemy of the world’s
people is the U.S. government. Racism has been a weakness of this country
from the beginning. Throughout history, all people of color, and all people
who don’t see eye to eye with the U.S. government have been subjected
to American terror. U.S. intentions have been known for so long, but I
feel that right now is a dangerous time for the whole world.
Q: Why should Asian Americans oppose the
“war on terrorism”?
The “war on terrorism” has expanded into different areas including
Asian countries. Already the U.S. has sent its military to the Philippines
and it is threatening North Korea. And look what’s happening in
South Asia, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Coalitions are very important. If you think about the Vietnam War, it
was everybody working together that made that movement grow so fast and
it was effective. More and more people are seeing that we have to work
together. We must work together to define for ourselves what terrorism
is and what resistance is. If ever there was a time when we needed to
work together, now is the time. The future is certainly going to be challenging.
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Josina Morita is a writer and activist in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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