Richard Aoki, the Japanese American Black Panther: A Fascinating, Inspiring Life Story

Rafu Shimpo reviews SAMURAI AMONG PANTHERS by Diane Fujino.

Fujino_Samurai cover“Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life” by Diane C. Fujino is no conventional biography.

Aoki was the most prominent non-African American member of the Black Panther Party, and his biography is fascinating, educational, inspiring — in short, hard to put down.

One of the best things Fujino chose to do was scrap the traditional biography format where the story is written in third person. Instead, Fujino uses narratives from Aoki’s oral history interviews, allowing him to tell his story in his own colorful language.

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Published in: Rafu Shimpo
By: Martha Nakagawa