Flying in the Face of Race, Gender, Class and Age: A Story About Kazu Iijima, One of the Mothers of the Asian American Movement on the First Year Anniversary of Her Death

Abstract

Telling stories is how women pass on their wisdom and this article is but one story about Kazu Iijima, one of the members of the Asian American Movement. Many other people no doubt have many more stories of Kazu. Her life provides a new paradigm for combining the personal and the by offering examples of the many forms activism can take. More importantly for me, in her son Chris' words, Kazu showed how one could be a political person her whole life and yet was a mom. It was the wisdom of this possibility—that is so rarely offered—that she gave to me. And I have modeled my relationship with my own children after Kazu's example. Alice Walker wrote, Write for your dead. They are listening. Death gives one pause to appreciate life. On the first anniversary of Kazu's death, I tell this story to reflect on the meaning and lessons of her life.