[/floatl]This gentle soul is Wendy Masako Yoshimura. She works as a watercolourist and her site says she paints "to capture those few quiet minutes in a day when clear morning light and cool shadows illuminate flower petals, fruit, or glass". She was born in an internment camp in 1943 to Japanese-American parents. The family relocated to Japan when her father went to work on a US base but they moved back to America when she was thirteen. Life wasn't always quiet for Wendy. In March 1972, police found a "massive bomb factory" in a Berkeley garage which she was renting. They staked the place out and arrested three armed men including her boyfriend, Willie Brandt, founder of the Revolutionary Army. They were responsible for bombing a number of office buildings in the Bay Area and had plans to kidnap or kill former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Yoshimura managed to evade the police dragnet, went underground and hooked up with the Symbionese Liberation Army, who had become household names following their kidnap of media heiress Patty Hearst. Hearst had subsequently fallen in with the group and took part in a number of their activities including a robbery at the Crocker National Bank where a customer was killed. Hearst claimed that Yoshimura was the group's explosives expert but often clashed with other members and opposed some of their more violent plans. Hearst later admitted to her part in the Crocker robbery, claiming that she and Yoshimura were the getaway drivers.[floatr]
[/floatr]Yoshimura and Hearst were finally apprehended by police in September 1975. Somewhat to her surprise, the Asian-American community felt sympathetic towards her and raised funds for her defence. They were apparently able to raise $150,000 for bail although the judge later reduced this to $25,000. She was, however, convicted on the 1972 explosives charges and was in prison until granted parole in 1980. The police were still trying to secure convictions in the Crocker robbery and murder case and offered her immunity in 1990 on the condition that she testify against other members of the SLA. Many people believe that Yoshimura was essentially an innocent who fell into bad company and was "framed by circumstances" but prosecutors became furious when she failed to deliver in her testimony to the grand jury. She claimed she hadn't known she was taking part in a robbery and could only remember the name of Patty Hearst, who had already admitted involvement. She had also refused to implicate anyone in the weapons charge against her, citing "personal and cultural reasons", for which the judge cited her for contempt. Police did finally get convictions when they arrested five fugitive members of the SLA who admitted their guilt.Yoshimura today lives with her mother in North Oakland and teaches painting at a local Japanese community centre. She refuses to talk about her past although she did speak to the San Francisco Chronicle a few years ago on the basis that the conversation would be about her painting. She ended the interview when the reporter brought up the robbery. The Chronicle later ran a story on her which you can read here A 1976 documentary about her called "Wendy...uh...What's Her Name?" was re-released in 2005. Author Susan Choi wrote a fictionalized account of the Hearst kidnapping and the later activities of the SLA called "American Woman". Choi's main protagonist is "Jenny Shimada", clearly modelled on Yoshimura.
