Passing It On

Recipient of the 2004 Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights Outstanding Book Award

At the age of 77, Yuri Nakahara Kochiyama began to write her memoir for her family. Passing it On is the account of an extraordinary Asian 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 prisoners and women's rights in the U.S. and internationally for over half a century. A prolific writer and speaker on human rights, Kochiyama has spoken at over 100 colleges and universities and high schools in the U.S. and Canada.

In 1942, Kochiyama and her family, along with 120,000 others of Japanese ancestry, were forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned in internment camps. Kochiyama notes that 70 percent of those removed were American citizens, and the remaining 30 percent were Japanese immigrants who had been denied the possibility of citizenship.

Chapters focus on the Kochiyamas' association with Malcolm X; political prisoners; Kochiyama's visits to Cuba and Peru; and the Asian American Movement.