Still on the trail of the Black Panther Party, one of the lesser known Black Panthers was a Japanese American by the name of Richard Aoki. Amerasia Journal ran a “Passages” section in the issue entitled “Subjugated to Subject: Through Class, Race and Sex” (Volume 35, Number 2, 2009) that honored him. This section chronicled the passing of four huge luminaries of the Asian American Movement: Him Mark Lai, Ron Takaki, Al Robles, and Richard Aoki.
A Los Angeles Richard Aoki Tribute Committee is hosting a free film showing of “Aoki: A Documentary Film” by Ben Wang and Mike Cheng on March 12, 2011 to commemorate the second anniversary of Richard Aoki’s death. (For more information, see the flyer to the right.)
Excerpts from “Richard Aoki (1938-2008): Toughest Oriental to Come Out of West Oakland,” by Harvey Dong (published in the “Passages” section), provide some history of an Asian American greats who has passed on:
. . .a quote by Richard:
. . .Based on my experience, I’ve seen where unity amongst the races has yielded positive results. I don’t see any other way for people to gain freedom, justice, and equality here except by being internationalist.
More excerpts, after the jump…
Citizen No. 13711-C
From 1942 to 1945, Richard, at age four, was interned with his entire family at the Topaz, Utah concentration camp. After World War II, his family resettled in West Oakland where he became childhood friends with future BPP leader Huey P. Newton. In West Oakland he learned to appreciate African American culture and learn the history of Blacks in America. He listened to stories of newcomers from the South who resettled in Oakland.
Richard recalled listening to their stories of racism, discrimination and lynching with a great deal of horror at the fact that in other parts of the United States, conditions were worse than the worse that he had seen in West Oakland.
After his parents’ divorce in 1955, Richard lived with his mother in Berkeley and attended Berkeley High School where he is placed in a more integrated environment. He joined the Saints, a multiracial social club. Shortly prior to graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Army while still a senior. He delayed active duty until three days after graduation. After one year of active duty, he remains in the reserve program of the Army for seven years until honorable discharge in 1964. His decision to not re-enlist was related to his questioning of US involvement in Vietnam. He received information from other GI’s returning from Vietnam that the war was “dirty” and was going to be picking up in scope. Due to his belief in the bushido code and humanitarianism, he did not want to be placed in the position of having to kill women and children. Still, his military training, Richard assessed, was not wasted but found use later in the movement.
Black Panther Years
In October 1966, Richard attended Merritt College where he reunited with friends Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Huey and Bobby drafted the BPP ten-point program and consulted with Richard before finalizing it. Upon completion of the program, he was asked by Huey to join the BPP. Richard did and became a field marshal. He was reluctant to join at first because he was Japanese and not Black. Huey retorted that the struggle for freedom, justice, and equality transcended race. The BPP became the premier revolutionary nationalist organization in the U.S. that challenged institutional racism, imperialism and capitalism. The advances made by the Black Panthers can be viewed by the fact that its demands for “land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people’s community control of modern technology” were supported and adopted demands by other communities of color.
At that time, police brutality was a pressing concern and in one 1967 incident in Richmond, California, Richard became involved in a tense confrontation involving the Black community and the police. Denzel Dowell, a seventeen-year-old African American youth in North Richmond was shot to death by the police. Dowell’s mother wanted to organize a rally to air her grievances over the shooting but was denied the permit. She, her family and friends asked the BPP to help secure the park for a public protest. Three carloads of armed Panthers secured the park and stood off several hundred police officers. The rally was conducted without incident and afterwards, every male member of the Dowell family joined the BPP.
AAPA
In July 1968, Richard attended graduate school at UC Berkeley and became a founding member of the Asian American Political Alliance, the first organization of Asian Americans to designate themselves Asian and not the stereotypical “oriental”, calling for fundamental revolutionary change in society. In July 1968, Richard made public AAPA’s platform that called for 1) an end to racism against Asian Americans; 2) affirmation of the right to self-determination for the Asian American community; 3) support for the struggles of African American, Chicano and American Indians to attain freedom, justice and equality; and 4) opposition to imperialist policies being pursued by the American government. This was especially significant during a time when the Asian model minority stereotype was touted in public media and by politicians as the answer to black and brown protest militancy. Instead, Richard and other AAPA members supported black and brown liberation movements as well as struggles within the Asian American community.
TWLF
In January 1969, Richard Aoki helped establish the TWLF and became a leader in the student strike for Ethnic Studies. He used his Black Panther and AAPA experience to build unity among people of color in the struggle for Ethnic Studies programs. At the time, a non-responsive university administration controlled by the most conservative governor in the United States, Ronald Reagan attempted to derail the TWLF movement demands for 1) a Third College, 2) Third World people in positions of power, and 3) Third World people in decision-making positions over all programs that involve their community. State repression on the TWLF was extensive and included the use of hundreds of riot police, sheriffs and eventually the U.S. National Guard. Mace and CS gas were dropped on students and there were mass arrests. Richard was active in the TWLF strike as a central committee member where he paid particular attention to ensure that every arrestee was taken care of with bail and legal support. The movement established Ethnic Studies in the University of California system and made it easier to establish similar programs in other campuses.
Educator for the People
Instead of using his education to place himself apart from the people, Richard used it to serve the community. Upon receiving his AA at Merritt Community College, AB in Sociology at UC Berkeley and M.S.W. in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley, Richard Aoki became an educator for the people. He was coordinator for the first Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley. He was a counselor, instructor, academic senate member, and administrator in the Peralta Community College system. He used his position to greatly improve the lives and educational needs of students in the Peralta Colleges. He encouraged students to continue onward to higher education and spent countless hours advising and writing letters of recommendation.
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