The Snow Queen

The recent revelation that Richard Aoki — a radical activist known as the man who provided arms to the Black Panthers — was actually an FBI informant has sent shock waves through Asian American and progressive communities. Activists, scholars and historians, including Aoki’s biographer, were quick to challenge the source of the news: investigative reporter Seth Rosenfeld’s recently released book “Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power.” Since then, the FBI has released thousands of other public records affirming Rosenfeld’s discovery, while Aoki’s followers have been left reeling.  

Who was Richard Aoki, really, and what does this mean? This is the first installment in a four-part series examining Aoki’s secret life and what it means for the communities that revered him as a hero. 

-Hyphen Magazine’s Who Was Richard Aoki?