Su, who will be the keynote speaker at LAANE’s Women for a New Los Angeles Luncheon on May 19 (see Events and Actions), spoke with New Vision about her work and the role of women activists in L.A.’s progressive movement.

New Vision: LAANE is primarily involved in organizing, policy work and coalition building, while you are more involved in the legal aspects of social justice. How do the two complement each other?

Julie Su: For me, litigation and legal advocacy are strategies that should never be isolated from organizing and coalition building. As a lawyer, I view my primary role as helping to support and facilitate organizing and building grassroots power. In our cases, for example, we really focus on working with low-wage workers and people of color to identify issues that matter in their lives, and to speak out and be heard both in the courts and on the streets. I've also seen that a case can be a concrete vehicle for organizing. Legal advocacy to change laws can turn one campaign into more justice for millions of people. We are also very deliberate about creating cross-racial coalitions. In our cases, we bring together Asian and Latino garment workers fighting against sweatshops, and African American, Latino and Asian American employees standing up against discrimination. While the combination of legal advocacy, organizing and cross-racial community-building certainly poses challenges, it is the only way, in my mind, to really create progressive change that leads to real justice.

NV: Does the work you do with immigrant workers lead to a greater sense of empowerment and a willingness to organize?

Julie Su: I have found that immigrant workers, despite all the risks they face, are often ready to organize. They want more control, not only in their workplaces but in their lives. Sometimes lawyers come in and don't know how to recognize that desire, that power, or they want to be in control of everything. To me, this defeats the purpose of social justice advocacy.

NV: As a co-founder of Sweatshop Watch do you think that Americans are becoming more conscious of sweatshop workers both here in America and overseas?

Julie Su: I do. When I started this work about a decade ago, I remember being out in Beverly Hills with students and workers who were passing out leaflets about Jessica McClintock using sweatshops, and people looked at us like we were crazy. "What? Sweatshops? Today? In this country?" But now, I think a combination of factors have made the public more aware. One factor is the horror of cases like El Monte where 72 Thai garment workers were held against their will, forced to sew for major manufacturers and retailers; Saipan, where garments bearing the "Made in LA" label were sewn by women working as indentured servants; and Forever 21 where dozens of Latina garment workers right here in Los Angeles charged the company with a rampant sweatshop practice. Another factor is the incredible strength of workers themselves, who refused to remain silent, who stood up and demanded corporate responsibility. And finally, just as corporations scour the globe for exploitable labor, many Americans are also far more aware today that we are part of a global workforce and our decisions affect the lives of low-wage women and men in China, Pakistan, Guatemala, Nigeria. We still have a lot of work to do —unfortunately, the consumerism of America still makes many choose their favorite labels over the lives of our sisters who make the clothes—but I think consciousness has definitely been raised.

NV: You will be honored at this year's Women for a New Los Angeles Luncheon. What can you tell us about activism among women in Los Angeles?

Julie Su: I think women’s activism in Los Angeles makes this city great. I often hear people complain that there is no sense of community in Los Angeles because it's too sprawling, or because people are always isolated in their cars. This criticism is a very superficial view of L.A. To me, the activist community —not bound by geography or race or language, but by passion and commitment—is a warm, wonderful, vibrant place to live and to work. At the APALC, I am surrounded primarily by women who remind me each day that in fighting for what's right and good, we also give ourselves the gift of sisterhood, of solidarity. And at home, my mother, my sister, my daughters show me the great potential for love and generosity in a world run by women.