Voices of API Women: Lisa Fu

Lisa Fu is the Western Organizing Director at NAPAWF. She is based in Los Angeles, CA.
Even though I read and hear about different racist, sexist and ignorant attacks that women of color face every day, every once in a while I’m caught off guard in a way that I can’t anticipate. Like this email our office got not too long ago:

Dear NAPAWF,
My name is _(omitted)_, I am a designer. I am looking for an experienced seamstress and have tried to find one for a long time. Someone suggested that I contacted your organisation [sic] since a lot of asian women sew there [sic] own clothing and there are some really good seamstresses.
Maybe you can tell me where I can put an add [sic] up?
Thank you so much for your help.

After reading this, my reactive-pissed off-high-speed-stream of consciousness went a little something like this…
“What? Are you kidding? Is she serious?? Is this a joke? I’m so sick and tired of your ignorance, stereotypes and sense of entitlement towards us… the fact that you’re trying to wipe away the history of struggle and movement-building in our communities in a single email, a brief thought. And you’re perpetuating stereotypes of small, nimble, obedient Asian women that we fight against every day of our lives – (rumbling pit of anger broils in my gut)…
Hey, why should I be surprised?…Isn’t this how most of this country thinks? I can only dream that the answer is no…Yeah, I’m one of those people swimming in the big bubble of social justice work, surrounded by fierce sisters, allies and comrades that live, breathe, and play like me… getting emails like this remind me that there’s a lot more work that needs to be done, blah blah blah… Yeah. I get it…but sometimes I like being in the idealistic bubble… is it really a bubble anyways? Maybe east and west coast bubbles and a few in between…
Yes, there are a lot of Asian women who are seamstresses – but the stereotype goes way deeper than that. It’s about recognizing the struggle of immigrant women workers working in sweatshops and their right to a workplace with fair wages, better working conditions, and free from sexual harassment, exploitation and discrimination. And recognizing the intersections between the garment industry with that of globalization, capitalism, racism, sexism and all those other –isms… Damn, so thanks for reminding me that really this is why I do the work that I do…thanks for reminding me that another world is possible…
So that was my stream of thought. I’m curious… what’s yours? How would you have responded? Share!
If you’re interested in learning more about the struggles and fight to support Asian women in the garment worker industry, here are a few of the many resources you can check out: Sweatshop Warriers, Garment Workers Center and read about one of the most famous cases in the country, the El Monte Thai Sweatshop Workers. (And for those of you wondering how we responded to this email – NAPAWF’s fabulous Courtney Chappell schooled her.)