Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki On Race, Resistance, And A Paradoxical Life

475 Pages·2012·2.29 MB·English

by  Diane C. Fujino

Samurai among Panthers
Critical American Studies Series
George Lipsitz, University of California–Santa Barbara, Series Editor
Samurai among Panthers
RICHARD AOKI ON RACE, RESISTANCE,
AND A PARADOXICAL LIFE
Diane C. Fujino
Critical American Studies
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the
Richard Aoki Freedom Fund.
Copyright  by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fujino, Diane Carol.
Samurai among panthers : Richard Aoki on race, resistance, and a
paradoxical life / Diane C. Fujino.
(Critical American Studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN ---- (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN ---- (pb : alk. paper)
. Aoki, Richard, –. . Black Panther Party—Biography.
. Asian American Political Alliance (Berkeley, Calif.)—Biography.
. Civil rights movements—United States—History—th century.
. Asian Americans—Civil rights—History—th century. . African
Americans—Civil rights—History—th century. . Political activists—
California—Biography. . Japanese Americans—California—Biography.
. United States—Race relations. I. Title.
F.JF 
.—dc
[B]

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and
employer.
                  
for Matef, Kano, and Seku, with love always
for Japanese American activist elders Mo Nishida,
Mitsuye Yamada, the Reverend Michael Yasutake, Frank Emi,
Yosh Kuromiya, and Yuri Kochiyama
for Chip Fitzgerald and other political prisoners
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Contents
Abbreviations ix
Introduction: Demystifying the Japanese Radical Cat xi
. “My Happy Childhood That I Don’t Remember” 
Disrupting the Deviant–Noble Binary 
. “Protecting the Japanese” 
The Ungrieved Trauma of Internment 
. “Learning to Do the West Oakland Dip” 
Masculinity, Race, and Citizenship in Postwar Oakland 
. “I Was a Man by the Standards of the ’Hood” 
Military Misadventures and Cold War Masculinity 
. “My Identification Went with the Aspirations of the Masses” 
The Old Left, Third World Radicalism, and Vietnam 
. “The Greatest Political Opportunity of My Life” 
Joining the Black Panther Party 
. “Support All Oppressed Peoples” 
Founding the Asian American Political Alliance 
. “It Was about Taking Care of the Collective” 
The Revolutionary Potential of the Third World Strike 
. “A Community-Oriented Academic Unit” 
The Birth of Asian American Studies 
. “An Advocate for the Students” 
Counselor, Instructor, Administrator 
. “At Least I Was There” 
A Rebirth in Activism 
Epilogue: Reflecting on a Movement Icon 
Acknowledgments 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index 
Abbreviations
AAM Asian American Movement
AAPA Asian American Political Alliance
AAS Asian American Studies
AASU Afro-American Student Union
AFL American Federation of Labor
BPP Black Panther Party
CAP Community Action Patrol
CORE Congress of Racial Equality
CPUSA Communist Party of the United States of America
CWRIC Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
FPCC Fair Play for Cuba Committee
IWW International Workers of the World
JACL Japanese American Citizens League
MASC Mexican American Student Confederation
NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
PACE Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor
RNA Republic of New Africa
SNCC Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
SWP Socialist Workers Party
TWLF Third World Liberation Front
VDC Vietnam Day Committee
YSA Young Socialist Alliance
ix