{"id":30259,"date":"2016-02-17T16:49:06","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T22:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=30259"},"modified":"2016-02-17T16:49:06","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T22:49:06","slug":"chinatown-forum-airs-issues-in-state-representative-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinatown-forum-airs-issues-in-state-representative-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinatown forum airs issues in state representative race"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Xiao Lyu and Ya Zhou<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than 100 people attended the 2nd district state representative candidate forum at Chinatown\u2019s Pui Tak Center<\/a> on Monday night.<\/p>\n

The forum, organized by the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC<\/a>), invited the two candidates running for the seat to openly discuss their proposals and respond to audience questions.<\/p>\n

However, one of the candidates, Alex Acevedo, didn\u2019t show up \u201cdue to scheduling conflicts,\u201d according to Chun Wah Chan, chairman of CBCAC.<\/p>\n

Acevedo,\u00a0 the son of the current representative, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The forum stretched for two and a half hours with translation in Cantonese and Mandarin, allowing Theresa Mah to answer 12 questions and elaborate on topics from voting rights and education to business and public safety.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in an immigrant family in San Francisco, \u00a0Mah said that she had a deep understanding of the struggles that immigrant families in the community go through.<\/p>\n

“My mother didn’t speak any English when she came [to America] and\u00a0I was her interpreter at schools and parent-teacher conferences,” Mah said to the audience. “I understand what people in the community experience, and I want to fight so that you can have a better life.”<\/p>\n

Mah also promised her potential voters that she would increase the transparency and communication with the community if elected.<\/p>\n

As a former college professor, Mah described her vision about the importance of investing in education. \u201cSince we live in a world-class city, we should be able to provide world-class education for our kids,\u201d said Mah.<\/p>\n

\"Forum
More than 100 community members attend the candidate forum at the Pui Tak Center at the intersection of the W. Cermak Rd. and the S. Wentworth Ave. (Xiao Lyu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI know this community like the back of my hand. I see all the needs. I want to do something about it,\u201d said Mah. \u201cIt is a community with a lot of needs that have not been addressed with our current leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

District includes Asians, Hispanics, whites<\/strong><\/p>\n

Edward Avecedo, who is Mexican-American, is the father of Alex Avecedo and the sitting representative of the 2nd district. Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in the district, comprising 53 percent of the district\u2019s population. The Asian community is the second largest group, and makes up\u00a0 23 percent.<\/p>\n

\"2nd
The district includes various\u00a0neighborhoods in Chicago which include Chinatown, Pilsen and part of Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Brighton Park and Back of the Yards. (Illinois State Board of Elections)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Powe, an IIT student, came to the forum to learn more about the two candidates. He had a good impression of Mah.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did strike me as a progressive person who care about the community,\u201d said Powe. \u201cI am definitely gonna vote. Mostly I will be voting for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little disappointed that the other candidate didn\u2019t come, so we can see the differences between them so far,\u201d said Powe.<\/p>\n

After the 2011 redistricting, over 90 percent of Chinese Americans in Chicago now live in the 2nd state house district. Before that, Chinatown was split up between four different districts, according to Chan.<\/p>\n

Educating voters through community outreach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Debbie Liu, a community development coordinator at CBCAC, expressed her appreciation at the prospect of having a Chinese representative in the state legislature for the first time. But she also said voters should not make their voting decision only based on skin color.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they really should find the person that they agree with in terms of how they feel the district and the state should move forward,” Liu said.<\/p>\n

Liu also hoped that the event would engage and educate minority voters, who traditionally have an overall lower voting rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they don\u2019t vote just because they don\u2019t know where to vote, or who to vote for, so these (events) are great opportunities for them to learn that,\u201d said Liu.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: 2nd district state representative candidate Theresa Mah speaks\u00a0to the\u00a0audience at the Pui Tak Center. (Xiao Lyu\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Xiao Lyu and Ya Zhou More than 100 people attended the 2nd district state representative candidate forum at Chinatown\u2019s Pui Tak Center on Monday night. The forum, organized by the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC), invited the two candidates running for the seat to openly discuss their proposals and respond to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":30276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30,585],"tags":[1465,1463,1400,1464],"class_list":["post-30259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2016","tag-2nd-district","tag-candidate-forum","tag-chinatown","tag-theresa-mah"],"yoast_head":"\nChinatown forum airs issues in state representative race - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinatown-forum-airs-issues-in-state-representative-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinatown forum airs issues in state representative race - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Xiao Lyu and Ya Zhou More than 100 people attended the 2nd district state representative candidate forum at Chinatown\u2019s Pui Tak Center on Monday night. The forum, organized by the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC), invited the two candidates running for the seat to openly discuss their proposals and respond to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinatown-forum-airs-issues-in-state-representative-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-17T22:49:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/IMG_2050.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"yazhou\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"yazhou\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinatown-forum-airs-issues-in-state-representative-race\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinatown-forum-airs-issues-in-state-representative-race\/\",\"name\":\"Chinatown forum airs issues in state representative race - 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