Yuri credits her own radicalization and emphasis towards coalition building to her friendship with Malcolm X. They met in 1963 during a campaign by the Congress of Racial Equality to protest discriminatory hiring. Prior to meeting Malcolm X, her advocacy focused on racial integration in the United States and later expanded towards a more internationalist and anti-imperialist viewpoint. This change in perspective encouraged her to draw connections between the fight for Black Liberation in the United States and the experiences of people of African and Asian descent all over the world. 

Through her involvement in Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity and attending Malcolm X’s Liberation School, Yuri began to share his mindset that the fight for civil rights was really a fight for human rights; the emphasis on human rights allowed for the acknowledgment and the need for recognition and respect of Black people around the world, not just in the United States. 

In a 1965 interview, Malcolm X explained the difference between civil rights and human rights, “We believe that our problem is one, not of violation of civil rights, but a violation of human rights. Not only are we denied the right to be a citizen in the United States, we’re denied the right to be a human being.”

May 19 Celebration – Happy Birthday Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X

Every year on May 19, their shared birthday, the legacy and connection of Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X is celebrated nationwide; often through dialogues and discussions focused on the importance of coalition building in the movement.