Introduction

CAAAV March, undated, CAAAV Digital Archives.

The Coalition Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) was founded on October 18, 1986, by Asian American women as a response to the rising violence against the Asian community in the United States.

By the 1990s, the organization broadened its missions from focusing on individual violence cases to addressing the root causes of violence. [1] Specifically, they analyzed the ways to combat institutional and systemic racism through developing community-based projects such as the Lease Drivers Coalition (LDC) and the Women Workers Project (WWP). These projects allowed CAAAV members to grow as organizers who seek justice in different facets of their lives, especially within the workplace. Not only did these collectives become sites of support for marginalized individuals, but they also helped build the groundwork to organize labor movements within their profession.

This digital exhibition explores some of CAAAV’s involvement in labor/workers’ rights during the late 20th and early 21st centuries through their projects: the LDC and the WWP. It will also showcase the breadth and diversity of labor activism in NYC and spread awareness of unionizing and labor organizing efforts at current organizations such as the NY Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) and Domestic Workers United (DWU) that grew from those initial projects. 

Most importantly, this exhibit also highlights the different forms of service workers (sex workers, domestic workers, and taxi drivers) and how they are among the most exploited, facing potential injustice and oppression by their employers and customers.