L.A. labor leader taught nonviolent resistance

The incursion of armed federal immigration agents in his beloved hometown of Los Angeles shocked Kent Wong.

- By Sunauna Hussain

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times

'HIS LEGACY LIVES ON'

Los Angeles has "lost one of its greatest champions for justice," Mayor Karen Bass said.

The labor leader and educator spent the summer vigorously organizing training sessions for more than a thousand workers and union organizers to peacefully protest the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant communities. It was work he had done for much of his life, but which he said had taken on more urgency now.

“This is a time that calls for thoughtful, mass action,” Wong told The Times in an interview in July. “How could this blatant racial profiling, the terrorizing of the communities of Los Angeles, take place without a direct challenge to this injustice? That's why we came together.”

Wong, who spent decades teaching a doctrine of nonviolent resistance, died Wednesday at a hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 69, due to cardiopulmonary failure with complications from endocarditis.

His family and his longtime colleagues said the principles of understanding and peace he advocated were reflective of how he conducted himself in his personal life.

He was also known for holding closely the cause of supporting immigrant workers, as well as fostering Asian American labor leaders.

“At the heart of everything Kent did was his unwavering commitment to protecting and uplifting immigrant workers,” state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), a former longtime labor leader who built deep ties with Wong over decades of working together, said in a statement.