Who?
From Wikipedia:
Yuri Kochiyama (河内山 百合 Kōchiyama Yuri?, May 19, 1921 – June 1, 2014) was a Japanese American human rights activist.[1]. She is notable as one of the few prominent non-black supporters of Black Liberation Movement. Influenced by Marxism, Maoism, and the thoughts of Malcolm X, she was an advocate for many revolutionary movements.Figures. Do they not realize that Maoism killed about 30 million Chinese?
In 1971, Kochiyama secretly converted to Sunni Islam, and began travelling to the Sankore mosque in Greenhaven prison, Stormville, New York, to study and worship with Imam Rasul Suleiman.[11]She was also an avid supporter of al-Qaeda and bin Laden:
Over the years, Kochiyama dedicated herself to various causes, such as the rights of those she regarded as political prisoners. She worked on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an African-American activist sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, nuclear disarmament and reparations for the internment of Japanese Americans. Through her activism—starting in the 1960s and continuing into the mid-2000s—Yuri participated in the Black, Asian-American, and Third World movements for civil rights, human rights, Black liberation, political prisoners, ethnic studies, anti-war, and other social justice issues.
Kochiyama was a friend and supporter of Assata Shakur, an African-American activist and member of the former Black Liberation Army (BLA), who has been convicted of several crimes including first-degree murder before escaping from U.S. prison and receiving asylum in Cuba. She stated that to her Shakur was like "the female Malcolm [X] or the female Mumia [Abu-Jamal]." [12]
Kochiyama also travelled to Peru to gather support for Abimael Guzman, leader of the Shining Path, which is classified by the Peruvian government, the U.S., the European Union, and Canada as a terrorist organization and has been widely condemned for its brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, trade union organizers, popularly elected officials and the general civilian population.[13][14][15] Kochiyama stated "[t]he more I read, the more I came to completely support the revolution in Peru."
Kochiyama also supported Yu Kikumura, an alleged member of the Japanese Red Army, who was arrested in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in 1986 when he was found carrying a bomb in his luggage and subsequently convicted of planning to bomb a US Navy recruitment office in the Veteran's Administration building. Kochiyama felt Kikumura's 30-year sentence was motivated by his political activism.[16]
As part of her support for those she saw as political prisoners, Kochiyama visited in prison Marilyn Buck, a feminist poet, who was imprisoned for her participation in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur, the 1981 Brink's robbery and the 1983 U.S. Senate bombing.[17]
In 2005, Kochiyama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize through the “1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005” project. [...]
In response to the United States' actions following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Kochiyama stated that "the goal of the war [on terrorism] is more than just getting oil and fuel. The United States is intent on taking over the world" and "it's important we all understand that the main terrorist and the main enemy of the world's people is the U.S. government. Racism has been a weakness of this country from its beginning. Throughout history, all people of color, and all people who don't see eye-to-eye with the U.S. government have been subject to American terror."[22]
In 2003, while being interviewed by Tamara Kil Ja Kim Nopper in The Objector, Kochiyama said "... I consider Osama bin Laden as one of the people that I admire. To me, he is in the category of Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Fidel Castro, all leaders that I admire ... [who] had severe dislike for the US government and those who held power in the US. I think all of them felt the US government and its spokesmen were all arrogant, racist, hypocritical, self-righteous, and power hungry..... You asked, 'Should freedom fighters support him?' Freedom fighters all over the world, and not just in the Muslim world, don’t just support him; they revere him; they join him in battle. He is no ordinary leader or an ordinary Muslim."[23][24]
In the same interview with The Objector, she thanked Islam for Osama bin Laden and his actions against the United States, stating, "..when I think what the US military is doing, brazenly bombing country after country, to take oil resources, bringing about coups, assassinating leaders of other countries, and pitting neighbor nations against each other, and demonizing anyone who disagrees with US policy, and detaining and deporting countless immigrants from all over the world, I thank Islam for bin Laden. America’s greed, aggressiveness, and self-righteous arrogance must be stopped. War and weaponry must be abolished."[25] [26]
