For generations, racial groups have grabbed political power in Chicago, and tried to harness their increasing electoral clout in order to hold onto it. Doing so is by no means assured.
The lobby of City Hall was awash in crimson and gold as Mayor Brandon Johnson and a small group of local Asian American politicians convened for a Lunar New Year celebration.
That a Chinese American woman now represents the historic ward on the City Council throws into sharp relief the challenges and opportunities facing Asian American elected leaders in the city and region: For generations, racial and ethnic groups have grabbed political power in Chicago, and tried to harness their increasing electoral clout in order to hold onto and expand it.
Lee said the recent momentum makes the wide-ranging priorities for Chicago’s Asian community all the more pressing as the budding coalition navigates a renaissance as the city’s fastest-growing racial group,by almost one-third from 2010 to 2020. At the same time, the city’s entrenched racial politics have continued to play out in power struggles between the Black and Latino caucuses, but how the Asian American community fits remains to be seen.
And on the federal level, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth is Thai American, while Schaumburg Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi is of Indian descent.the first Asian American ever elected to the Illinois General Assembly Johnson has made zero Asian American appointments to his cabinet and top deputy positions, though he did install Jianan Shi as his Chicago Board of Education president upon taking office. The progressive mayor has touted what he says is “the most diverse administration in the history of Chicago.”“How do we define diversity, and where do Asians sit in that equation?” Lee asked.
One of Pritzker’s four deputy governors, Grace Hou with the Health and Human Services division, is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. Officewide, the governor’s staffers are 6% Asian American and 42% people of color. That issue is one that advocates across the city and state’s Asian diaspora agree is urgent. One of the next goals for them is toChicago’s 2015 language access ordinance, along with disaggregating demographic data in order to better understand the wide-ranging need within the community. Pacione-Zayas indicated the Johnson administration is interested in those priorities, too.
But in total more than 30 different Asian ethnic groups have settled in the city, per the 2022 U.S. census. Chinatown alone features dialects from Mandarin to Cantonese to Hokkien to Taishanese. “This speaks to the history of even the term ‘Asian American,’” said Grace Pai, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice. “A lot of people who are part of the Asian American community, they identify more with a specific ethnic identity like Korean American, Indian American, Filipino American, and the term ‘Asian American’ came about because people realized we need to come together.”
“We are working with a community that does not necessarily have a history, first of all, of being so large or being so engaged,” Verma said. “Our identities are very heterogeneous, embracing multiple religions, different beliefs and values and languages, sexual orientations and a diversity of ethnicities. How can we all think and vote or experience the same things?”
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