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Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama QUOTES

Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama QUOTES

1 " Activists from all over the world--the known & the unknown--would find their way to the Kochiyamas' Fri & Sat night open houses. 'People were everywhere, eating, talking, laughing, spilling out into the hallway [outside their apt]. People were even int he bathroom. You couldn't close the front door bc there were so many people inside,' recalled Herman Ferguson. The Kochiyamas' apt also became a central meeting place for the Movement. "

― Diane C. Fujino , Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama

2 " It would be hard. After all, I'm working. I'm a mother. Number one, I'm a mother & housewife, so there's the house kind of chores. In the evenings, I might attend some meeting, & then late at night, I would be either writing to the brothers & sisters in prison or working on the leaflets of their cases. Then on the weekend, at least every other weekend, we'd visit the political prisoners...I mean everybody has their whole life & things they have to do at home. But I'll tell you, we were busy during this time. Every week, more brothers & sisters would be arrested. We were working on scores of cases at the same time--trying to keep up with visiting, writing, attending court hearings. If I could show you all the leaflets we made, you'd get an idea of how expansive the work was. "

― Diane C. Fujino , Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama

3 " In Yuri's early years of activism, [Mae] Mallory served as an important political mentor. Not only did Mallory have a visible leadership role, usually reserved for men, she also, remarked Yuri, 'taught me how to be a good Movement person. She was always on time, responsible & reliable, accurate in giving out information, and she wanted other people to be the same. "

― Diane C. Fujino , Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama