United States Postal Service: Create a Yuri Kochiyama stamp
US Postal Service
Yuri Kochiyama is one of the most renowned Asian American activists of the 20th century. She dedicated her life to fighting for racial justice and human rights for all.
She is widely known for her deep friendship with Malcolm X and her commitment to the Black Liberation Movement. When the police and FBI intensified the targeting of Black activists during the 50s and 60s, Yuri spearheaded letter writing campaigns, prison visits, and demonstrations. She linked her support for incarcerated activists with her own experiences as a Japanese American who was unjustly imprisoned in a concentration camp.
Her work with Black Power inspired her work with the Asian American Movement in the late 1960s and on, when she fought to end militarism and U.S. imperialism in Asia and in Puerto Rico. In the 1980s, she and her husband Bill helped organize for reparations to Japanese Americans. The Kochiyamas and the wider Japanese American community fought to get the federal government apologize and compensate the over 120,000 Japanese Americans who had lost their homes and livelihoods and suffered deep trauma from their wartime incarceration.
After Japanese Americans won redress, Yuri continued to link the victory to calls for Black reparations and to oppose the post 9/11 criminalization of Muslim, Arab and South Asians in the U.S.
As we commemorate her 100th birthday on May 19, we wish to honor this incredible loss to Asian Americans and the racial justice movement.
Yuri Kochiyama strongly believed in sending letters, flyers and mail for political outreach and education. She wrote hundreds of letters to political prisoners, students, and friends every month. On holidays, she asked for gifts of stamps so that she could continue to send out flyers for the causes she championed. [1]
Postage stamps have long been used to feature public figures for notable talents and accomplishments.
In our opinion, Yuri Kochiyama is as notable as they come. Will you join us to salute her contributions to human rights and racial equity?
Tell the United States Post Office: Commemorate Yuri Kochiyama’s life and legacy with a postage stamp created in her honor.
Update: June 2019, the 18MR team and our members submitted our official application for Yuri Kochiyama to be considered for her own postage stamp. In November 2020 we were told that she is still under consideration.
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Yuri Kochiyama's death marked an incredible loss for Asian Americans, and for the racial justice movement as a whole.
During her lifetime, Yuri changed the lives of innumerable people. She is widely known for her deep friendship with Malcolm X and her commitment to the Black Liberation Movement. While she stood in solidarity with revolutionary Black leaders, Yuri also fought to end militarism, free political prisoners around the globe, decolonize Puerto Rico, build cross-racial coalitions, and gain reparations for the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Postage stamps have long been used to feature public figures for notable talents and accomplishments. In our opinion, Yuri Kochiyama is as notable as they come. We are writing to ask the United States Postal Service to salute her contributions to human rights and racial equity.
Please commemorate Yuri Kochiyama’s life and legacy with a postage stamp created in her honor.