“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.” HarlemBlack LiberationPolitical OrganizingMovement BuildingYuri KochiyamaThe Movement Book:Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama Source: Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama
“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.” 1960sPolitical PrisonersPolitical OrganizingBlack Liberation MovementYuri Kochiyama Book:Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama Source: Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama