#mag-net

I cannot believe this. My elder, Yuri Kochiyama, has become an ancestor. This hits hard and deep. I recall being a child in her small, dark Harlem apartment; hidden amongst the stacks of papers, listening to my mom and others discuss strategies for black liberation. I remember talking to her here, in Oakland, about how sickle cell had impacted both our lives. Her fierce determination, her love for all the people, will live on forever. Rise in power.

Malkia Cyril is a writer, communications organizer, and director of the Center for Media Justice, the home of the Media Action Grassroots Network.