With nearly 40% of New Yorkers born outside the U.S., politics is now a fertile field for immigrants
It took Irish, Italians and
Jews decades before their numerical strength translated into political
clout. But now, first-generation members of the city's emerging
immigrant middle class are winning elections and shaking up the status
quo. Take John Liu. City Council minority-group members used to rally
around the Black and Latino Caucus. Then along came Liu. Liu, 37,
arrived in Flushing from Taiwan at age 5. His mother toiled in city
sweatshops, while he went to school and ultimately earned a degree in
math and physics at SUNY Binghamton. In 2001, he became the city's
first Asian Council member. Liu's district, which is 48% Asian, was
ruled for 12 years by Julia Harrison, a white politician who triggered
an ethnic firestorm in 1996 when she grumbled publicly that Queens
Asians were "more like colonizers than immigrants." [more ]
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