Meeting Malcolm X / 137 and?" He red back, at?” I was i're doing gration. ing them Malcolm y believe ions, Yuri's s apparent -k separat- ondemned perals. But of Islam, mportant, * Within months of that meeting, Yuri began questioning her Conscious of her transformed ideology, Yuri now prefaces her separat- integrationist beliefs and later adopted Malcolm's nationalist views. ist opposition with a disclaimer: "There was a second part where I said movement. I had just gotten started in the civil rights movement. ... It something stupid. I didn't know anything about the Black liberation was a stupid thing to say since he was a Black nationalist, but he wasn't even upset. He was so cool, so open. He just said, 'I can't give you a rwo-minute lecture on the pros and cons of integration right here. If you want, come to my office and we'll discuss it then.""3 Yuri's separatist challenge signaled a boldness in confronting a per- does not convey the tone of her disagreement, it was, as she tells it son of Malcolm's intimidating reputation. Although the written word today, a mild chastisement. Her modus operandi is to not make direct or harsh confrontations. Rather, she tends to voice her objections in gentle ways. Because of Yuri's tone, Malcolm may well have sensed an open-mindedness in her, and hence his invitation. Malcolm's response impressed Yuri, perhaps because his behaviors contrasted so sharply ites to be tates are , Nation to four St Japan. k inter- al White perhaps m most - Bailey ], Yuri many vement with the media portrayals of him as a hatemonger: “This just goes to show what kind of person Malcolm was—so open and humble and willing to discuss ideas with people. I was really excited and couldn't wait to tell Billy and the rest of the family. Billy had left the courtroom to take an exam [at school]; I knew how disappointed he'd be to have missed Malcolm X.94 The following day, Billy rushed to tell his mother that Malcolm X was speaking on the radio. This was the first time Yuri would hear Malcolm speak. She had assumed he would be debating White people, but the debate turned out to be among Black movement leaders. Malcolm's eloquence and passion as well as his separatist ideas in- spired her to compose a letter to him that night: My son and I just finished listening to the radio broadcast. ... I could not constrain myself from writing to you. ... I shall always admire you and respect you for what you are doing for your people-giving them the “lift," the support, and pride in their heritage. More than that, you are giving much to all of us-penetrating into all the infested areas bloated with pom- posity.... It may be possible that non-Negroes may wake up ey run Zhites. ter of t sur- Homi- ou're rnly, inte- Meeting Malcolm X / 137 and?" He red back, at?” I was i're doing gration. ing them Malcolm y believe ions, Yuri's s apparent -k separat- ondemned perals. But of Islam, mportant, * Within months of that meeting, Yuri began questioning her Conscious of her transformed ideology, Yuri now prefaces her separat- integrationist beliefs and later adopted Malcolm's nationalist views. ist opposition with a disclaimer: "There was a second part where I said movement. I had just gotten started in the civil rights movement. ... It something stupid. I didn't know anything about the Black liberation was a stupid thing to say since he was a Black nationalist, but he wasn't even upset. He was so cool, so open. He just said, 'I can't give you a rwo-minute lecture on the pros and cons of integration right here. If you want, come to my office and we'll discuss it then.""3 Yuri's separatist challenge signaled a boldness in confronting a per- does not convey the tone of her disagreement, it was, as she tells it son of Malcolm's intimidating reputation. Although the written word today, a mild chastisement. Her modus operandi is to not make direct or harsh confrontations. Rather, she tends to voice her objections in gentle ways. Because of Yuri's tone, Malcolm may well have sensed an open-mindedness in her, and hence his invitation. Malcolm's response impressed Yuri, perhaps because his behaviors contrasted so sharply ites to be tates are , Nation to four St Japan. k inter- al White perhaps m most - Bailey ], Yuri many vement with the media portrayals of him as a hatemonger: “This just goes to show what kind of person Malcolm was—so open and humble and willing to discuss ideas with people. I was really excited and couldn't wait to tell Billy and the rest of the family. Billy had left the courtroom to take an exam [at school]; I knew how disappointed he'd be to have missed Malcolm X.94 The following day, Billy rushed to tell his mother that Malcolm X was speaking on the radio. This was the first time Yuri would hear Malcolm speak. She had assumed he would be debating White people, but the debate turned out to be among Black movement leaders. Malcolm's eloquence and passion as well as his separatist ideas in- spired her to compose a letter to him that night: My son and I just finished listening to the radio broadcast. ... I could not constrain myself from writing to you. ... I shall always admire you and respect you for what you are doing for your people-giving them the “lift," the support, and pride in their heritage. More than that, you are giving much to all of us-penetrating into all the infested areas bloated with pom- posity.... It may be possible that non-Negroes may wake up ey run Zhites. ter of t sur- Homi- ou're rnly, inte- as human beings. And 138 / Meeting Malcolm X and learn to treat all people when that will be changed to integration. If each of ances as ness" of all people? f us, white, yellow, and what-have-you, can earn our way into your confidence by actu- time comes, I am sure that your pronouncement for separation al performance, will you ... could you ... believe in "together have challenged, perhaps for the first time, her beliefs. After all, it Even as Yuri promoted an integrationist line, this debate must was Malcolm, more than the civil rights leaders, who captured bet imagination--so much so that she "could not constrain herself from writing to ſhim]." Malcolm had moved her. In this Yuri was to Malcolm, despite her efforts to ignore this man, demonized by the not alone. Poet Sonia Sanchez, then a member of CORE, was drawn her first encounter with Malcolm's street-corner orations: "I looked media as a hater of White people and all things decent. She recalled up and looked around, determined not to look at him, determined not to listen. But as he started to talk, I found myself more and more listening to him. And I began to nod my head, 'Yeah that's right, that makes sense. After his first experience with a three-hour speech by Malcolm, A. Peter Bailey reflected: “He literally compelled me to they are mits them. People Malcolm's service age to speak out These qualities, emulate as a you. Although Yur Islam (NOI) mo Six weeks after day suspension roost” remark a temporary suspe panied by the ec paper, Muhamı dants and kick twelve years of bleeding inside. question some of the things I had believed. It was like someone pulling up your scalp and just pouring information in that you never, some things you had felt, but you had never heard verbalized before.” As with Sanchez, Bailey, and others, Malcolm's oration and ideas commanded Yuri's attention. “A master teacher" is how Bailey de- scribes Malcolm: "The sheer accurateness and clarity of it made you say 'Ohhh.' And even if you disagreed with every word he said, you had to start doing some things to reinforce whatever you were think- ing. He made you think about it.” Malcolm had the ability to explain Until the ne general public the NOI. Mục unwavering fa was shattered adultery with departure, the with the nonis 1962, when M police killing privately vent complex ideas in terms that were understandable to the average person about people talk about ou and we haver one of our ou on the street. What he said resonated with many in Harlem, including Yuri: "Even though I was new to the Movement, I knew things were wrong with society. Even if I couldn't put it in political terms, I knew there was a lot of racism. So more and more I wanted to hear Malcolm speak." Several months later, in a letter to him, Yuri articulated part of the attraction for her:"... shackled, and ostracized.... you are not afraid to you speak for the most downtrodden, out the griev- After leaving organization and political evident in th philosophy losophy will spell V Meeting Malcolm X / 139 en that ration N, and actu- ether- te must I all, it ced her erself) ri was drawn mits them. People must be made to see the truth." That Yuri admired ances as they are, how the injustices are perpetrated and who com- Malcolm's service to the poor, his search for the truth, and his cour- age to speak out regardless of potential persecution, is not surprising. These qualities, promoted in the Bible, are traits she had sought to emulate as a young Sunday school teacher.7 Although Yuri lived in Harlem, not far from Malcolm's Nation of Islam (NOI) mosque, the opportunity to visit his office eluded her. weeks after their courthouse meeting, the NOI issued a ninety- day suspension of Malcolm following his "chickens come home to temporary suspension soon turned into a permanent ouster, accom- roost" remark about President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The panied by the equivalent of a death warrant issued in the NOI news- paper, Muhammad Speaks. Devastated by the betrayal of his confi- dants and kicked out of the organization to which he had devoted twelve years of his life, Malcolm agonized, “My head felt like it was Six py the called oked ined more that by bleeding inside.” - to ing ime as 2- u u Until the newspapers broadcast Malcolm's suspension, like the general public, Yuri was unaware of the problems building within the NOI. Much has been written about how Malcolm's previously unwavering faith in his hero and father figure Elijah Muhammad was shattered upon discovering that the NOI leader had committed adultery with several of his secretaries. Also significant to Malcolm's departure, though less discussed, was his growing dissatisfaction with the noninterventionist policy of the NOI leadership. As early as 1962, when Muhammad terminated Malcolm's efforts to protest the police killing of Los Angeles NOI leader Ronald X Stokes, Malcolm privately vented his frustrations to his assistant minister: “We talk about people being bitten by dogs and mowed down by fire hoses, we talk about our people being brutalized in the civil rights movement, and we haven't done anything to help them. ... And now we've had one of our own brothers killed and still we haven't done anything." After leaving the NOI, it is not surprising that Malcolm founded an organization, the Muslim Mosque, Inc., that integrated his religious and political beliefs. The NOI's continuing influence on Malcolm was evident in the Muslim Mosque's nationalist ideology: “Our political philosophy will be black nationalism. Our economic and social phi- losophy will be black nationalism. Our cultural emphasis will be black - 140 / Meeting Malcolm X no arroganc warm, pers to Blacks. I nationalism. ... The political philosophy of black nationalism means we must control the politics and the politicians of our community During this turbulent period in Malcolm's life, Yuri received a letter from an American peace group explaining that three hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) journalists-writers, Kenmitsu Iwanaga, Akira Mitsi, and Ryuji Hamai, wanted, according to Yuri, "to meet Malcolm X Malcolm's office, a representative indicated that despite his busy sched more than anyone else in the United States." When Yuri contacted ule, Malcolm would try to attend their event. The Hiroshima-Nagasaki World Peace Mission Study embarked on a walking and weapons proliferation. In the United States, the hibakusha writ- States, Europe, and the Soviet Union to call for an end to nuclear bombs slum conditions that motivated the Black revolt. In Harlem, "they saw a ers, translators, and peace activists wanted to see the segregation and community where garbage was stacked high because the sanitation de partment wasn't picking it up regularly, clogged bath-tubs, toilets that wouldn't flush, broken windows and stairwells because the landlords wouldn't bother to make repairs," explained Yuri.10 "When I a pin drop. The hibaku rhythm ons grabbed Yu Malcoln too have tour of the United neighbo He cand while in could ge dim glo from A tory. He Europea was bed On Saturday, June 6, 1964, the Kochiyamas' home was overflowing with Black and White civil rights activists, many from the newly formed Harlem Parents Committee and Harlem Freedom School, and concerned Japanese Americans who had come to enjoy a program of singing and poetry, performed by Black and Japanese artists. Despite her hopes for Malcolm X's appearance, Yuri underscored the insta- bility of the times for him: "It's important to understand what a tur- bulent period this was for Malcolm. He had just been expelled from the Nation of Islam. None of the Blacks who came were Malcolm's people; there were no Muslims, no Yorubas, no nationalists, no radi- cals. This was really a dangerous time for Malcolm. There were ru- mors that he would be killed, including death threats by the Muslims, All ove were ta War II, especia been cc strong "I don't th its racism added Yu Based and no one knew who might be out to get him. So we could understand if he didn't show." But all of a sudden, there was a knock on the door and in walked Malcolm X. Yuri relayed the reaction of the hibakusha pearance electrified the room. But our guests were also apprehensive: and American activists at meeting the larger-than-life figure: "His ap- Would he be hostile to such an integrated audience? Would he treat the Whites poorly? He was nothing the people expected. There was lored his interest in Malco! had me ism, co showe the on Transformation of a the Civil Revolutionary Nationalist an independent Stanford with a to create revolut ferizes her storyt I was on a bu It must have know hardly thusiastic ki Gabre was s Carrington. on the shou what he los "Can you what he wc to talk abc organize is really exci an unders know ever ing to my Alkamal. By the time of Malcolm's death, Yuri's politics had undergone a sig nificant transformation, moving from integration and nonviolence were reflectives self-determination and self-defense. These changes and influenced by the nationwide turn toward radical politics, es the moderate goals of the Civil Rights Movement. One of the first pecially in urban areas, where young people, in particular, rejected was the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM). At its inception contemporary organizations to advocate urban guerrilla wartare an above-ground, Black nationalist, working-class group relying on in 1962, however, Don Freeman and Max Stanford had envisioned mass direct action and self-defense tactics to push the Civil Rights Movement toward revolutionary goals. As William Sales observed, "RAM was the first of many organizations in the Black liberation movement to attempt to construct a revolutionary nationalism on the basis of a synthesis of the thought of Malcolm X, Marx and Lenin and Mao Tse Tung ... [giving] its variant of Black nationalism a par- ticularly leftist character."1 Some time after RAM started, Yuri began hearing about the orga- nization from different people, but from no one more ardently than family friend Alkamal (Sheldon) Duncan, a young RAM member whom Stanford described as having “a remarkable sense of leadership among the youth.” Yuri relayed: “Alkamal almost had Stanford on Stanford and just listen to him. He has so much knowledge about a pedestal, and kept telling me, 'Someday you've got to meet Max Black history.'” That day came at a time when RAM, frustrated with Just as Movement 1964, she knew Yuri meetings v ers denied at the time he mistoo James Sha night ope involveme social and contact in RAM BLE apartme: 162
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