What I found interesting about this article was that even before 9/11 hit, the garment factories, especially in Manhattan, were suffering. This seems peculiar since the garment industry is one of the two largest manufacturing industries in the city. However, because of the expensive rent, competition for space and many assumptions regarding the legality of these “sweatshops”, the garment industry had been going downhill in Manhattan a long time before 9/11. Regarding, the legality of the sweatshops, many people still assume that all sweatshops are undocumented immigrants which gives the factories a bad name. In fact, many are unionized factories that employ thousands of legalized women and pay minimum wage. I have to admit that I did think that most of the factories were these horrible sweatshops that hoarded illegal immigrants and paid hardly anything. I would be really interested in seeing one of these unionized factories.

After 9/11 hit, Chinatown was drastically affected. I knew that most businesses were affected by 9/11, however I really never considered how much not only the factories but Chinatown as a whole was affected. Because of the closing of many of these factories, so many Chinese lost their jobs. Not only that, I never expected how much of a ripple effect there was. Not only were the factory workers hit, but it went so far as even people who came to Chinatown from around the city to buy particular items were discouraged because the shops no longer could carry the items they needed.

Emma Park-Hazel