In 1974, construction began on the Confucius Plaza high-rise development, a federally-funded project in the heart of New York Chinatown. Despite City policies requiring employment opportunities for minority workers, the builder refused to hire Chinese applicants. Outraged by this blatant discrimination, a coalition of Chinatown residents, students, and professionals came together to demand the right of access for Asian Americans to some of those construction jobs.

The leaders formed Asian Americans for Equal Employment (AAFEE, later to become AAFE) to coordinate demonstrations, marches, and picketing around the Confucius Plaza site. After six months of unrelenting demonstrations, the Confucius Plaza struggle ended with AAFE's first victory for minority rights and equal employment opportunity when the builder was pressured into hiring twenty-seven minority workers, including Asian Americans.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of AAFE’s founding, we brought together some of the leaders of the Confucius Plaza protests to share their motivations for joining the protest, discuss the growth of the civil rights awareness of the Asian Americans, and talk about the their struggles in organizing protests of historic significance.

Confucius Plaza from willem lee on Vimeo.