Pictured: Kent Wong delivers a keynote address at the Re-Imagining Solidarity conference, organized by the Harry Bridges Center on March 10, 2018, at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies is deeply saddened by the passing of Kent Wong, former director of the UCLA Labor Center, founding president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, and a lifelong social justice activist.
Wong’s legacy cannot be overstated. As the director of the UCLA Labor Center for more than 30 years, Wong established a guiding model for labor education and research. From a small staff of three, Wong built the UCLA Labor Center into a major force in the California labor movement, establishing its headquarters in downtown Los Angeles and lobbying for labor centers on every campus of the University of California system. At the same time, Wong worked to organize the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (AFL-CIO), serving as its first president upon its founding in 1992.
In addition, as a professor at UCLA, Wong was a scholar who worked to amplify the stories of everyday workers, union organizers, and labor activists. His many books included Asian American Workers Rising: APALA'S Struggle to Transform the Labor Movement (co-authored with Matt Finucane, Kim Geron, Emmelle Israel, and Tracy Lai) and Revolutionary Nonviolence: Organizing for Freedom (co-authored civil rights activist Reverend James Lawson, Jr. and historian Michael Honey).
The expansion of the Harry Bridges Center since 2018 would have been impossible without Wong’s support. He was always available to provide generous encouragement and practical guidance. Wong regularly visited the Harry Bridges Center to participate in events and assist in the development of the program. Most recently, Wong delivered an unforgettable keynote address at the Bridges Center’s Re-Imagining Solidarity conference in 2018, and served again as a keynote speaker at the Center’s Labor Studies Awards Celebration in November 2021.
Wherever he went and whenever he spoke, Wong articulated a vision of a labor movement that was unapologetically anti-racist, centered in community struggles, sustained by leadership development, and strengthened by international solidarity. “Kent was a true friend and a loving human being who also knew how to bring down the wrath on injustice,” Michael Honey said (Harry Bridges Chair, 2000-2004). Wong’s years of institution-building and mentorship set a standard for labor education and labor studies that the Bridges Center will strive to carry on.
Additional Viewing:
"Asian American Workers Rising" with Kent Wong and Ligaya Domingo
2021 Labor Studies Awards Celebration - Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies