Yuri Kochiyama

Yuri Kochiyama (formerly Mary Yuriko Nakahara; May 19, 1921 - June 1, 2014) was a Japanese-American civil rights activist. This passion led her to initiate reparations for interned Japanese-Americans during World War 2. As one of the thousands of Japanese-Americans sent to concentration camps, she felt strongly about the cause. The imprisonment and death of her father helped her to become an advocate for the oppressed. She stood for and admired other activists such as Malcolm X, Che Guevarra, Patrice Lumumba, and Fidel Castro. Specifically, Kochiyama was friends with Malcolm X, an African-American human rights activist in the 1960s. She was a part of Malcolm's Organization of Afro-American Unity, and took part in the film, Death of a Prophet, where she played herself. Later in her career, Yuri Kochiyama was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.