Asian Americans in Chicago want majority-Asian ward in remap

CHICAGO (AP) — Asian Americans in Chicago are pushing for a majority Asian ward as the city redraws its political maps, saying it will ensure the fast-growing community has a unified voice at City Hall.

The Coalition For A Better Chinese American Community has been fighting for decades for a majority Asian ward in Chicago. With the once-a-decade process of drawing ward boudaries underway again, the coalition says it’s time for a ward that will include all of Chinatown.

Under their proposal, the ward also would include parts of the McKinley Park neighborhood and Bridgeport, the area that was home to longtime former mayors Richard J. and Richard M. Daley.

The number of Asians in Chicago increased by 45,000 over the past decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and Asians were the fastest-growing racial group between 2010 and 2020. But there are currently no Asian members of the City Council.

David Wu, the executive director of the Pui Tak Center, told WLS-TV that “you have to be in the room to make a difference.”

“Hopefully we can be in the room this next decade,” he said.

The City Council approves the new ward map, and must do so by Dec. 1.