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Civil Rights Champion Yuri Kochiyama Dies At 93

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

A long-time human rights campaigner has died. Her name was Yuri Kochiyama. She traced her activism to World War II. That's when her family was forced into internment camps, along with thousands of other Japanese-Americans.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Years later, she was in Harlem, worked in the civil rights movement with leaders including Malcolm X. She was there in 1965 when Malcolm X was assassinated. And instead of running from the gunfire, she moved toward her friend.

(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)

YURI KOCHIYAMA: I just picked up his head and just put it on my lap. I said, please, Malcolm, please, Malcolm, stay alive.

INSKEEP: That moment was captured in a famous Life magazine photo.

GREENE: She later helped win reparations and a government apology for World War II Japanese-American internees. Yuri Kochiyama died Sunday. She was 93 years old. It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.