Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943-2000) was born in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II and grew up to become a committed civil rights and anti-war activist. He became a personal assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and baby-sat Dr. King’s children during the many memorials for their father. Kiyoshi won a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania and was one of the founders of Gay Liberation Front in Philadelphia. He also served as an openly gay delegate to the Black Panther Convention that endorsed the gay liberation struggle. During the AIDS epidemic, Kiyoshi was involved with ACT-UP/Philadelphia; PWA empowerment and We The People Living with HIV/AIDS. He was the editor of the ACT-UP Standard of Care, the first such publication for the care of people living with HIV produced by PWAs. Working with R. Buckminster Fuller, Kiyoshi founded the Critical Path Project, which brought the strategies and theories of Buckminster Fuller to the struggle against AIDS. Working closely with Buckminster Fuller Kiyoshi co-authored and finished Buckminster Fuller’s Cosmography: A Posthumous Scenario for the Future of Humanity. In addition to all of his activism, Kiyoshi was also a nationally ranked Scrabble player and a master of Kundalini yoga. He died at the age of 57 due to complications from HIV/AIDS.
Find his plaque on Market St between Castro and Noe