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GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is Chicago the Most Underrated City for Asian Americans?
t may be the nation's third largest city but to many AA Chicago is terra incognita. The first question it provokes is, Why would an Asian American want to live there? They are surprised to learn that, in fact, the greater Chicago area hosts the eighth largest Asian American population. Of the area's 8.4 million population, Asians comprise 5.4% or 450,000.
Most underrated AA city?
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Chinese began settling the area in 1870. Most were railroad workers at loose ends after the last stretch of tracks were laid on the Transcontinental Railroad. More began moving out to escape the extreme anti-Asian racism raging out of control on the west coast until the mid-1940s. Their first visible community was the area now known as South Chinatown on Chicago's South Side. At its height this original Chinatown, centered around Wentworth and Cermak, was lively enough to support 170 restaurants. Now, that number has shrunk to about 43, in part due to various redevelopment projects that cut the area down to less than a quarter its original area.
The new wave of Asian immigrants that began arriving in the 60s and 70s has shifted the Asian action northward. A second Chinatown, populated mostly by Vietnamese Chinese, has grown up around North Broadway and Argyle Street. A few blocks to the west a Koreatown is emerging along Lawrence Avenue. Nearby Devon Avenue is home to thriving South Asian establishments. There's even a small Japanese enclave closer to downtown along Clark and Halstead, right alongside a budding Thai area. These ethnic enclaves give the Chicago area's Asian Americans a tangible connection to their heritages but they are home only to the newest of Asian immigrants. Most established AA have faded into suburbs like Skokie, Evanston and even Highland Park.
Enough young Chicago-area AA professionals and students cherish their cultural ties to support the nation's only Asian American Jazz Festival, a popular annual event that draws healthy crowds. Other AA organizations include the local chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals, the Asian American Artists Collective, an AA Film Festival and various student groups based in local university campuses.
Chicagoland AA have begun to recognize the need to organize if they are to avoid becoming political casualties and orphans as during the various redistricting battles of the early 90s. But the Asian population remains dispersed, lacking the concentrations needed to consolidate political power in the form of viable candidates. This lack of concentration is the factor most often cited to support the view that Asians remain irrelevancies in the Windy City's socioeconomic landscape.
Is Chicago really a cultural wasteland suitable only for Asians indifferent to their heritages? Or is it just the most underappreciated city among AA?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:09:28 PM)
Chicago is a great place to live. People are nice and the job market is awesome. Women here are a little stuck up. However, i'm married to a Chinese Indonesian so i don't have to worry about it. Where is a good place to find Indonesian Groceries? I have been to 5 Continents but i didn't see any. I need the Indonesian food directly from Indonesia.
happy Asian in Chicago (Glendale Heights)
Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 09:41:52 (PDT)
I'm from Chicago (lived in the South side, South suburbs and West suburbs). I'm not Asian but I think Asians in Chicago are the best there is. Growing up most of my friends were Asians of some type. My second gf was from Chinatown. I'm still not sure why this was but I was mostly part of Asian groups. Then I left for MIT and was shocked to find my friends had tricked me. Most Asians were very racist or at least closeminded. Now I'm in SoCal and find they're the same way. Was is that the numbers in there are lower or is Chicago some kind of magical bubble? I don't know but I miss those days taking over the local Korean joint with my crazy Asiatic homies.
Brown Man in a (formerly) Yellow World
mistermajikal at yahoo.com
Wednesday, April 17, 2002 at 14:53:42 (PDT)
A Reason NOT to be in Chicago--it's suburb of Vernon Hills is the home of that SLUT Ellen Cho from Road Rules 10. She was always going after that idiot White Dude Adam. She made all AA women look bad and I know some girls who specifically said that they wouldn't give a White guy the time of day because of her and his behavior on MTV.
Chicago Asian Pride
Tuesday, April 16, 2002 at 05:11:02 (PDT)
It's relatively cheap to live in the Chicagoland area (compared to CA or NY). It's a major city, although people for the most part have the provincial Midwestern mentality. And the earning potential is about as high as that of the other cities. It's clean, wonderfully planned (except for 90/94), and there's so much growth within and around the city. There aren't so many Asians, but I think this will change as people realize that Chicago is a great place to live.
Come over!
Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 22:29:00 (PDT)
I've spent nearly my entire life in Chicago and absolutely LOVE this city. Chicago rocks because it's sophisticated, multi-faceted, and down-to-earth all at once. We may not boast the numbers that the West Coast can, but that fact doesn't prevent members of our Asian community from finding solidarity amongst each other. Perhaps because Asians are not found a dime a dozen, as in L.A. for example, people are able to form more individualized identities, while maintaining a sense of culture.
Ravenswoodgirl
Monday, March 25, 2002 at 21:50:35 (PST)
I think that Chicago is still a work in progress for Asian people. Right now it is obviously not as good as California isfor Asian people. However, in ten years the city will be very good for Asian people as their population continues to grow and the white people continue to flee the minority hordes for safer climes like wisconsin or southern Illinois. I say to other Asian people move here now and we will build the only midwestern city to rival those in California. The only thing we have to have is a little patience. Asian people do very well economically in Chicago. In fact if you look at the statistics they do better than Asians in California. Asians comprise around 10% of the popoluation of one of the wealthiest counties in America called Dupage. This is far above their numbers in the population.The quality of life in Illinois is also higher than in California. Chicago is under rated but it is still a work in progress. We need about 10 more years and then our numbers and influence will make us one of the true Asian hubs on a near equal par with California. I challenge Asian people to move here and be in a place that was like what LA was about maybe 15 years ago. This is a great place to go to school and raise a family.
Chicago 4 life
Monday, March 25, 2002 at 08:06:30 (PST)
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