{"id":14385,"date":"2012-11-07T01:11:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T01:11:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-11-07T01:11:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T01:11:00","slug":"Chicago-s-Asian-American-Voters-Feeling-Alienated-Economic-Pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=14385","title":{"rendered":"Chicago\u2019s Asian American Voters Feeling Alienated, Economic Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fred, a native of India who immigrated to the United States to find work, came to DeWitt Clinton Elementary School in Uptown on Tuesday afternoon to let his voice be heard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople still have dreams. They still have hope.\u201d Fred told Progress Illinois. \u201cBut we are facing the debt of the last ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Married with two sons and a daughter, Fred studied to be a medical technologist. But now, he\u2019s looking for work. In this election, Fred said finances are his big concern. \u201cWhen you have a family, you aren\u2019t looking out for one stomach, you have to feed four people at the house,\u201d he said. Fred also made it clear he doesn\u2019t want to take care of his family by using government handouts. \u201cI want to live off real paid checks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fred brought up the irony that while he came to America to work, India\u2019s economy is now doing better than America\u2019s. He believes job outsourcing is a main reason. \u201cWhen you call a bank, or Comcast, the call goes to India,\u201d Fred said. \u201cSo that job that\u2019s supposed to be here is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many other Asian American voters share Fred\u2019s concerns, according to Rekha Radhakrishan, the communications coordinator at Chicago\u2019s Asian American Institute (AAI).<\/strong> Radhakrishan said the recession has hit Asian Americans at a disproportionate level, so when they list jobs and the economy as concerns, it\u2019s because they\u2019re feeling the effects more. According to an AAI survey of Asian Americans in Illinois, 56 percent say the U.S. economy is doing fair, and 21 percent say it\u2019s doing poorly.<\/p>\n

To push some Illinois Asian American issues forward, Radhakrishan said the AAI launched the first Asian American Caucus in Springfield this past May.<\/strong> She said the goal is to get a group of legislators together who represent Asian-dense districts, and then have discussions about some of the issues that the community is focused on.<\/p>\n

According to Radhakrishan, there are no Asian American legislators in the Illinois General Assembly.<\/strong> She also said neither presidential candidate, President Barack Obama nor former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, really reached out to Asian Americans during the campaign. \u201cThere was an opportunity to reach this group of voters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Even so, the AAI survey shows President Obama had a slight edge with Illinois\u2019 Asian American community.<\/strong> Fred stopped short of saying he\u2019d vote for President Obama, only saying he grew up in a Democratic country and wanted to continue to live in one. <\/p>\n

Overall, Fred said he wants politicians to start paying attention to what\u2019s going on in the lives of regular people. \u201cWe\u2019re going to Mars in big robotic cars, but what about what\u2019s happening here?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

via progressillinois.com<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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