Murder of Evelyn Okubo

Murder of Evelyn Okubo

Photo of Evelyn Okubo
Date	July 18, 1970
Location	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Convicted	Nobody

Evelyn Okubo was a Japanese-American sansei teenager killed during the 1970 convention of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) at the Palmer House hotel in Chicago, Illinois. Her 17-year-old roommate, Ranko Carol Yamada, was also severely wounded, yet survived. The murder caused a significant stir within the Japanese-American community, in part because Yamada alleged that the killer was African-American, just at the height of violence associated with the Black Panther Party.^[1] The killer was never found.^[2]

Evelyn Okubo was 18 years old and hailed from the Japanese community of Stockton, California.^[3] She and Ranko Carol Yamada had traveled to Chicago as representatives of the Japanese-American youth organization Yellow Seed to the national convention of the JACL, which was then focused on fighting for racial justice and against the Vietnam War.^[3] Prior to the murder, Okubo was believed to have attended racial issue discussion meetings with groups like the Black Panthers and the Young Lords, a Latino community organization with roots as a Chicago street gang.^[4]

On July 17, 1970, Okubo was murdered, and Yamada was slashed in the throat, in Room 725 of Chicago's Palmer House hotel.^[5] Yamada, though badly wounded, wrote out several messages: "Gory, but it doesn't really hurt," "He was a black man with a natural," and "Don't blame him it was not his fault. There must be absolute peace."^[1] When the victims were discovered about half an hour later by a third JACL attendee sharing the hotel room, both girls had been stripped naked and bound, though neither showed evidence of being raped.^[5] Yamada could not speak for two weeks after the incident due to her throat injury, but eventually recounted that the attacker had pranced around naked before killing Okubo.^[6]

Chicago newspapers originally ran sensational stories alleging that Okubo was raped prior to being murdered, and implied that interracial dating on the part of the youth activists was to blame.^[1] Meanwhile, two police officers were killed by sniper fire from a housing project that same day, while several police and Panthers had been killed the previous year, which added to the supposition that Okubo was killed by a Panther.^[7] According to the Chicago Tribune, police named a man named Lonell Robinson as a prime suspect in the murder after he was caught raping and robbing another woman in the same hotel.^[8] Robinson was not affiliated with the Black Panthers or any other political organization. However, Robinson was later ruled out as a suspect, though in the rape case he was indeed convicted the following year.^[9] Newspapers also eventually acknowledged that no rape had been committed in Okubo's case, and though some columnists suspected that racial animus was a motive, this has never been confirmed as the perpetrator was never found.^[10]

Carol Yamada and Mabel Okubo, Evelyn's mother, later filed a civil suit against the Palmer House hotel, alleging negligence.^[11]

The tragedy of Okubo's murder was the inspiration for Japanese-American songwriter and musician Nobuko JoAnne Miyamoto, another JACL attendee and West Side Story actress, to write her first song. She and fellow musician Chris Iijima began touring Japanese-American communities, advocating interracial reconciliation and activism while raising money to honor Okubo's memory. Ultimately, they would form the band Yellow Pearl (a pun on Yellow Peril) and become a touchstone in Asian-American media.^[12]

However, many older Japanese-Americans viewed the murder as confirming their suspicions about the dangers of interracial activism by young Japanese-Americans, and despite the fact that no evidence has been found to support the claim, the belief that the crime was committed by a Black Panther remains prevalent in parts of the community.^[13]

• List of homicides in Illinois
• Japanese in Chicago
• List of unsolved murders