Yuri Kochiyama Multicultural Lounge
History and Namesake
“The legacy I would like to leave is that people try to build bridges and not walls.”
Yuri Kochiyama
Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese American Civil Rights Activist, was involved with several social movements throughout her life, including reparations for Japanese American internees, Black separatism, and the anti-war movement. Born on May 19, 1921 in San Pedro, California to Japanese immigrant parents, her life changed drastically in 1941 when the Japanese Empire bombed Pearl Harbor. That same day, Kochiyama’s father was arrested under suspicion of espionage and as a potential threat to national security. Although he was eventually released, he was denied medical treatment and died soon after returning home. After the signing of Executive Order 9066, Kochiyama and her family were detained in a War Relocation Authority internment camp. This time in her life sparked Kochiyama’s lifelong activism.
Yuri Kochiyama spent her life fighting to redress and make reparations to Japanese Americans who were interned like her own family by the government during WWII. In addition to advocating for Japanese Americans, Yuri was dedicated to advocacy across marginalized identities. In October 1963, Yuri met the African American activist Malcolm X during a protest and she eventually joined his pan-Africanist Organization of Afro-American Unity. After her victory with reparations for survivors of Japanese American internment campus, Yuri advocated for reparations for African Americans.
In 1997, this multicultural lounge was created to honor the life of Yuri Kochiyama as a dedicated activist and advocate. Kochiyama passed away in 2014 leaving behind a long lasting legacy. On June 6th, 2019 she was posthumously honored by the White House, “for dedicating her life to the pursuit of social justice, not only for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, but all communities of color”.
This multicultural lounge celebrates Yuri Kochiyama’s legacy of building bridges, forming diverse coalitions, and advocating for all communities of color and her dedication to social justice and human rights movements.
Student and University of Michigan Involvement
The creation of the Multicultural Lounge Program would not have been possible without the advocacy, collaboration, and dedication of students. In the late 1960s, Black and African American students at the University of Michigan organized what became the first wave of the Black Action Movement (BAM-I). BAM-I was a coalition of students, staff, and faculty; from their advocacy, the first multicultural lounge was formed in 1971. In the decades following, additional multicultural lounges were formed, most dedicated to Black and African American communities.
In the 1990s, students recognized that there were no spaces on campus that had been named after an Asian American individual. Daniel Zarazua sought to make the South Quad community a more inclusive space through his role as a Minority Peer Educator (MPE). MPE’s, now referred to as Diversity Peer Educators, are live-in student staff members focused on creating an inclusive space for residents. Zarazua began a campaign to change the name of South Quad’s West Lounge and suggested Yuri Kochiyama’s name. Several other students and community members were involved in the campaign including Marie Ting, Tait Sye, and Ann Pham. When asked why Zarazua suggested Yuri Kochiyama, they said “people of all backgrounds look up to her and respect her.”
United Asian American Organiztions
Many of our multicultural lounges have student organizations associated with its formation. The founding of the Yuri Kochiyama Multicultural Lounge was made possible in part by students in the United Asian American Organizations (UAAO), which is considered a legacy organization to the multicultural lounge. This student organization not only played a significant role in the establishment of the space, but also in the renovation of the Yuri Kochiyama Multicultural Lounge in 2022.
UAAO Mission
The United Asian American Organizations was established in 1988 to work in unity with the Asian American community on campus. We are a coalition group representing various Asian American organizations on campus. Our aim is to serve as the liaison and collaboration agent for diverse Asian American organizations at the University of Michigan, promote awareness of Asian American issues, serve as a political voice for Asian American organizations on campus, and develop relationships with other POC [people of color] groups on campus and Asian American organizations outside the University of Michigan.
