During winter quarter 1991 at UCLA, students of a graduate course,“Critical Issues in Asian American Communities,” focused on Asian American workers in the Los Angeles garment industry as a community research project.’Issues concerning working class Asian Americans are often overlooked. Much research has examined” middle class” issues that focus on upward mobility such as the glass ceiling in employment, the model minority portrayal, and admissions quotas in higher education. Although important in addressing the ways that institutionalized racism adversely affects Asian Americans, such research does not represent a complete picture of the realities within our communities today.

Several studies have examined Asian garment workers in San Francisco and New York City? Yet, there has been little research on workers in the Los Angeles area? Currently, Asians constitute 10 percent of the area’s estimated 120,000 garment workers. Our study is a preliminary step to document the everyday experiences of garment workers from four communities: Chinese, Korean, Filipino, and Southeast Asian (Vietnamese and Cambodian). From their stories, we hope to identdy some patterns as well as differences among Asian ethnic groups. Also, as graduate students with certain class privileges, we can use our knowledge and resources to bring about social change in our communities.’