The Poetic WarriHER, Janice Mirikitani

Do you believe your words have the power to move and heal a community?

In our last WarriHERS piece, we’ll meet a warrior who used her words to address the horrors of war and bondage, and who advocated for equality. This WarriHer was a crusader for the people; she spoke up against institutional racism and helped communities express their traumas and heal through words. As a poet, she wrote about issues affecting marginalized communities around the world, not only inspiring others to share their stories, but also healing from the battles she fought throughout her youth.

Poet and activist Janice Mirikitani was a WarriHer who used her words and experiences to help the marginalized. Like our other WarriHers, her childhood experiences prepared her for battle. However, her battlefield was a little different. Born on February 4, 1941, in Stockton, California, to US-born poultry farmers of Japanese descent, Mirikitani spent the first three years of her life in an internment camp at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas. Due to the rampant racism against people of Japanese descent on the West Coast, her family relocated to Chicago after their release.

Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and her mother remarried and returned to California. During this time, Mirikitani felt isolated; she dealt with poverty, and was sexually abused by her stepfather from age five to sixteen. The trauma she experienced became the catalyst for her writing, allowing her to express her suffering from internment, racism, and abuse. Mirikitani began writing poetry when she was eight years old. The words she wasn’t able to communicate aloud, along with her repressed emotions, found a home in her notebook.

Words on a Political Battlefield

In 1962, Mirikitani graduated from the University of California Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in dance. She later received a teaching degree from UC Berkeley, and pursued a master’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University. During this time, Mirikitani became involved in political activism. She participated in the Third World Liberation Front. She joined Third World Communication, where she worked with Chicano and Latino writers to publish their communities’ lived experiences—narratives often omitted from major publications. She also became the editor of Aion, one of the first Asian American literary publications. Mirikitani worked with writers and artists to edit Ayumi, a bilingual Japanese American anthology filled with stories, memoirs, poems, and visual art.

In 1969, she became a member and typist for the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church and devoted herself to helping poor and marginalized communities in San Francisco. She helped to shape the organization’s values, welcoming anyone into the foundation and expanding their social service and justice aid to include abused women, the incarcerated, and those with medical or family issues. Under the leadership of pastor Cecil Williams (Mirikitani’s husband), the Glide Memorial Church amassed a congregation of ten thousand people from all races, genders, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and religions.

“[Poetry is] the language of my definition and my liberation.”

Mirikitani’s words were her means of survival. She was relocated, abused, and faced with an identity crisis. She used her words and poetry to free herself. She wrote poetry like “Awake in the River”(1978) and “Yes, We Are Not Invisible” (1995), which touch on the dehumanizing impact of stereotypes. Mirikitani also helped others tell their stories and change their narrative through poetry, community organizing, and activism.

Five Revolutionary Facts about This Poetic WarriHer

In 1965, Mirikitani worked as Glide’s typist, where she transcribed stories about police brutality in the Tenderloin neighborhood against people of color and the LGBTQIA+ community.

Mirikitani and her husband, Cecil Williams, were a part of the anti-eviction and demolition protests at the International Hotel in the heart of Manila Town where many Filipino workers resided.

She cofounded, and became president of, the Glide Foundation (a subsidiary of the Church) in 1982, and with an emphasis on community mobilization, Mirikitani coordinated over eighty community programs for marginalized communities, some of which involved: developing safe spaces for people in the LGBTQIA+ community, aiding those with substance abuse problems, helping people find jobs, and creating support groups for survivors of incest.

Mirikitani believed in inclusivity and unconditional love for all community members; she inspired others to organize, volunteer, and help their communities.

In 2000, she was named the second poet laureate for the city of San Francisco.

What Makes Janice Mirikitani #RevolutionaryWarriHER?

When you think of a warrior, you may think of weaponry, bloodshed, despair, and victory. While she may not have fought on a battlefield, Mirikitani’s lived experience, her influence, her need to organize communities, and the power of her words all make her a #RevolutionaryWarriHER. Words were her weapons of choice. She chose the pen not only to write her own story, but the stories of others as well. She used her experience as a child who grew up in an internment camp to change and shape her community. Her comrades—fellow community organizers—would describe her as someone who dedicated her life to activism and providing community support. She connected with the San Francisco community and the world through her words, inspiring writers, community members, and activists to engage in creativity and social justice work.

The great Maya Angelo, who was inspired by many of Mirikitani’s works, is quoted as saying,

“Janice Mirikitani speaks all our truths.”

Mirikitani was recognized internationally for her writing and community advocacy. She received more than forty awards, including the 1988 California State Assembly “Woman of the Year” recognition in the 17th Assembly District, and the Foreign Ministry Commendation award from the Japanese Foreign Minister for her leadership and community activism.

Janice Mirikitani died on July 29, 2021, in San Francisco at age eighty. She dedicated her life to combating inequality, creating space for people experiencing poverty, and helping communities express themselves through storytelling. As our final WarriHer, we thank and are grateful to this Revolutionary WarriHer who taught us not only how inclusivity and understanding can heal a community, but also how our words can liberate us.

I leave you with words from Mirikitani's, “Bad Woman”:

Bad women celebrate themselves . . .

Bad women know how to stir

their tears in pots of compassion

add some hot sauce, wasabe, five spices, jalapenos

the salt of memory

stoke the fire of history

simmer in resilience

make it taste like home.

Bad women can burn.

We hope you enjoyed this series, and that every WarriHER Revolutionary has inspired you to forge your own Revolutionary path.

Reads that inspiHER:

Check out On Native Ground: Asian American Writers in Califia. The article has excerpts from the 1979 “Visions of California: Asian American Writers 1929–1979” conference that featured Janice Mirikitani and other notable Asian American Writers.
Do you want to know more about Janice Mirikitani? Check out the interview she did with Oppenheim Associate.
In 2017, Janice Mirikitani spoke about her experience as a woman of color, stereotypes, and dealing with racism and self-hatred.
Check out Toshiaki Komura’s essay on revisiting two of Mirikitani political poems, “Recipe” and “Suicide Note.”
Check out some of the books of poetry that Janice Mirikitani wrote, such as Awake in the River and We, the Dangerous.