Kiyoshi Kuromiya
| Kiyoshi Kuromiya | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 9, 1943 Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Wyoming, U.S. |
| Died | May 10, 2000 (aged 57) U.S. |
| Cause of death | AIDS complications |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater |
University of Pennsylvania Monrovia High School |
| Occupation | Author, civil and social justice advocate |
Kiyoshi Kuromiya (May 9, 1943 – May 10, 2000) was a Japanese American author and civil rights activist. He was born in a Japanese American internment camp on May 9, 1943 in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. He died on the night of May 10, 2000, due to complications from AIDS.
In the 1950s, Steven Kiyoshi Kuromiya lived with his father and mother and younger sister in Monrovia, California, a suburb of Los Angeles in the east San Gabriel Valley. In 1961, he graduated with honors from Monrovia High School, where he was active in the Scholarship Society and the Science Club. He was accepted at the University of Pennsylvania.
He was a committed civil rights and anti-war activist. He was also one of the founders of Gay Liberation Front - Philadelphia and served as an openly gay delegate to the Black Panther Convention that endorsed the gay liberation struggle. Kuromiya was an assistant of Martin Luther King Jr. and took care of King's children immediately following his assassination.
To protest of the use of napalm in Vietnam in 1968, he announced that a dog would be burned alive in front of the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Library. Thousands turned up to protest, only to find a message from Kuromiya: "Congratulations on your anti-napalm protest. You saved the life of a dog. Now, how about saving the lives of tens of thousands of people in Vietnam."
Kuromiya was involved in all aspects of the AIDS movement, including radical direct action with ACT UP Philadelphia and the ACT UP network, People With AIDS (PWA) empowerment and coalition-building through We The People Living with HIV/AIDS, national and international research advocacy, and loving and compassionate mentor ship and care for hundreds of people living with HIV. Kiyoshi was the editor of the ACT UP Standard of Care, the first standard of care for people living with HIV produced by PWAs.
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