{"id":8177,"date":"2011-04-01T18:04:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T18:04:13","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-04-01T18:04:13","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T18:04:13","slug":"Queens-College-tackles-Asian-voting-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=8177","title":{"rendered":"Queens College tackles Asian voting power"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Asian\/American Center of Queens College hosted a forum Monday in response to the recently released 2010 U.S. Census numbers showing that the Asian populations both in New York City and Queens increased more rapidly<\/strong> since the 2000 Census than those of any other race.<\/p>\n

The conference was a gathering of academics and community advocates aimed in large part at finding ways to better empower Asian-American voters <\/strong>to elect leaders to represent their communities and interests.<\/p>\n

The keynote speaker at the event, titled \u201cImmigrant Queens: Defining Communities of Interest,\u201d was Dr. Paul Ong, a nationally recognized professor of urban planning, social welfare and Asian-American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He spoke at length about leading approaches to boosting the influence Asian Americans have in politics, elections and community organizing, saying that improving Asians\u2019 naturalization rates<\/strong>, encouraging political engagement and tweaking laws and policies are important ways to move toward those goals. He also said it is essential that Asian Americans exercise influence over more electoral districts in order to be better represented in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that the 2010 Census data has just been released, we\u2019re at the stage of how do we construct electoral districts? And more particularly, can we construct these districts in a way that empowers Asian Americans?<\/strong>\u201d he asked in his opening remarks. \u201cIn areas such as Los Angeles, New York, Washington, areas of Washington, D.C., Boston and so forth, we\u2019ve reached a critical population mass and we can no longer be ignored. But the question is can we be effective?\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the rest of the afternoon\u2019s discussion focused on answering Ong\u2019s broad questions with specific ideas and solutions. The Asian population in Queens increased from 391,500 residents as of the 2000 Census to 598,334 in the 2010 survey, bringing the percentage of the borough\u2019s residents who are of Asian descent from 17.6 percent to 23.1 percent<\/strong>, the largest percentage jump in a major racial category over the past decade.<\/p>\n

That fact means the Asian population must act now to ensure its place in the political discourse<\/strong>, said the event\u2019s emcee, Dr. Madhulika Khandelwal, director of the Asian\/American Center and associate professor in Queens College\u2019s Urban Studies Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do see ourselves as standing at a very important historical juncture here right now,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we are seeing now is a major democratic change happening, so we need to begin to think of this now in terms of we can do something to have a significant impact in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

May Chen, board president of the New York State Immigrant Action Fund<\/strong>, a new immigrant advocacy group, said a focus on convincing wide swaths of people of the importance of public participation and civic engagement is essential to advancing the goal of increasing Asian communities\u2019 political influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many concerns about access to welfare, health care and other political issues, and immigrants are now realizing that those issues are being decided by the people who are voted into office,\u201d she said.
\n
\nSource Connor Adams Sheets<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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