Korean-American leaders have launched a voter-registration campaign, another case of activists’ finding a rallying cry in the Chicago City Council’s recent decision not to automatically include Asian-American contractors in the city’s set-aside program for minorities.
Jee Yeun Lee, program director for Korean American Community Services, said organizers hope to register about 2,000 new voters to make it more difficult for government officials to disregard the needs of Asian-Americans in Chicago. The registration effort started on Monday.
“The case could be made that if we had political power, we would have been able to make a difference with the City Council,” Lee said. “That helps us in showing why it is important that people get out to vote.”
Chinatown activists also have cited the contracting plan as a wake-up call.
Organizers hope to target churches and apartment buildings not only on Chicago’s North Side, but also in the suburbs, where the majority of Korean-Americans live, Lee said.
The project, Korean American VOTE 2004, also will target those born in Korea who came to the United States as children and identify more with this country, Lee said.
