Donald L. Wilson’s love of the culinary arts kept him working for nearly three decades as a chef in the kitchen of the Century Plaza Hotel.

Born in Galveston, Texas and raised in Los Angeles from the age of 5, Wilson followed in the foot steps of his grandfather, an immigrant from Belize who was also a chef.

Wilson joined the labor movement in 1987 as a shop steward for the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Union Local 11—now UNITE HERE—soon after the local came under the leadership of Maria Elena Durazo. In 2005, he became a full-time community organizer as part of the Hotel Workers Rising! campaign.

His love for people and diversity, says Wilson, is what drew him to the union. A father of two grown children, Wilson is now working to bring African Americans back into the hotel industry where their numbers have dwindled in recent years.

Wilson says that when he began working at the Century Plaza Hotel in 1978 the kitchen staff and doormen were about 60 percent black―far different from the predominantly Latino workforce today.

What happened? One theory, according to Wilson, is that African Americans were transformed by the experience of the Civil Rights Movement. The legacy of fighting for equality had inspired blacks to stand up for themselves on the job. “My inspiration for social justice comes from Dr. Martin Luther King,” says Wilson. “Every time we are oppressed with injustice our civil rights blood boils in me and pushes me to stand up, and that is what we’re trying to teach our brothers and sisters.”

Wilson, who is also a pastor at True Way Baptist Church in South L.A., believes that diversifying the hotel industry would make the labor movement stronger and help build bridges between black and brown people.

The diversity initiative that he is working on calls on employers in the hotel industry in Southern California to make a commitment to hire more blacks. It is important that the hospitality workforce reflect the population of the communities in Los Angeles and offer equal opportunities to all.

At this year’s City of Justice Awards Dinner, Wilson will be honored by LAANE for his contributions to the labor movement along with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president Andy Stern and Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).