Samurai among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life

Description

An iconic figure of the Asian American movement, Richard Aoki (1938-2009) was also, as the most prominent non-Black member of the Black Panther Party, a key architect of Afro-Asian solidarity in the 1960s and '70s. His life story exposes the personal side of political activism as it illuminates the history of ethnic nationalism and radical internationalism in America.

Diane C. Fujino is associate professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her books about leading Asian American activist Yuri Kochiyama (Heartbeat of Struggle) and with Fred Ho (Wicked Theory, Naked Practice) are published by the University of Minnesota Press.

"My friend Richard Aoki was there when Huey P. Newton and I founded our Black Panther Party, discussing political analysis and seeking critique approval of our Ten Point Program. This book is a necessary kind of reading that illuminates my friend's political revolutionary life's meaning: Richard Aoki's reverence." -Bobby Seale, founding Chairman and National Organizer of the Black Panther Party "Richard Aoki straddled the worlds of ethnicity by the radical bridge he built through his engagement with an authentic, even saucy American radicalism. Diane C. Fujino unearths Richard's story with sympathy and warmth, and in the process redeems the legacy of a remarkable American radical." -Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People's History Of The Third World "Samurai among Panthers is a bracing, honest, and revealing biography. The book is a powerful reminder that although social movements operate collectively within social and political contexts, they are ultimately enacted by individuals who, like Richard Aoki, are flawed, complicated, dedicated, and visionary." -Daryl J. Maeda, author of Rethinking the Asian American Movement