LOS ANGELES – With only a few days left until the LA General Filipino community advocate and Council District 13 (CD13) stakeholder Joel Jacinto made a bold move and expressed his endorsement for candidate John Choi.
“I believe that there is only one choice for the Filipino community, and that is John Choi,” Jacinto said in an interview with the Asian Journal.
Jacinto, who is known for his work with Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), clarified that this is his personal endorsement, and is not made on behalf of the nonprofit organization he leads.
Jacinto said that the last time that an Asian American was in LA City Council was 20 years ago, when he first arrived in LA. Back then, Mike Woo sat as councilperson for CD13, and the district hasn’t able to elect an Asian American representative since then.
Almost a generation later, the district still had no Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander councilmember, resulting in little representation for the communities in the city council, Jacinto said.
“John is our future, not only for the diverse Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities but for Los Angeles! So I wholeheartedly and without reservation or condition endorse John Choi for CD 13,” Jacinto added.
Jacinto lauded Choi’s background and track record as a public works commissioner for having worked on projects that benefitted CD 13 in the past. These projects included large scale housing, employment, and transit, among others.
The past is indicative of the present and the future, Jacinto said. And if there’s anything to learned from Choi’s past work as public works commissioner, it’s the he has already proven to be capable of producing results in the mainstream, Jacinto said.
And now Choi can focus his efforts on the district, the Fil-Am community leader added.
Choi, who is one of two candidates aspiring to represent the district where Historic Filipinotown is located, said that the Filipino leader’s endorsement means a lot to his campaign.
Choi said that while City Hall provides the overall structure in improving the city, the actual services and assistance from organizations (like the one that Jacinto leads) makes the real and positive change for local families. And no one else in CD13 has a track record that can compare to Jacinto’s, Choi said.
“It [the endorsement] means a lot to me and I think it should mean a lot to the voters of the district,” Choi said.
Serving the underserved and underrepresented
For Choi, serving the underserved and the underrepresented has been the main focus of his career in the past ten years. He believes that Historic Filipinotown is one of those communities.
“Historic Filipinotown has not received its fair share of attention, resources, and services,” Choi said.
“In fact, my opponent who has worked for this district for ten years, stood up in a meeting of Filipino leaders and actually admitted that over the course of ten years working for the councilman that he did not do a single thing in Historic Filipinotown,” he added.
Choi said that it was an “incredible admission” of where his opponent’s priorities are – which are clearly not in Historic Filipinotown.
“I think that’s the key difference between the two of us,” Choi emphasized.
The Asian American candidate said that he cares about empowering, organizing and delivering services to the community.
Choi said that he is “absolutely committed” to helping all immigrant communities, all minority communities whom he claimed to have been “largely dismissed,” particularly Historic Filipinotown.
While neighborhood safety, sustainable employment, and quality public education are issues that are common among different ethnic communities of CD13, Choi said that there are specific issues unique to Historic Filipinotown and the larger Filipino community that he wants to address. Among them are the economic and urban development of Historic Filipinotown.
“In Hi-Fi [Historic Filipinotown] for example, we really have the opportunity to revitalize that neighborhood,” Choi said.
Choi said that Historic Filipinotown is currently viewed by many as merely a “pass-through” community, where people simply drive through the area. There are vacant lots and blight in Historic Filipinotown, Choi pointed out, but there is a huge opportunity to bring in real economic development and jobs to revitalize the neighborhood.
Voting as an immigrant community
The turnout of voters among communities is the first thing that politicians look into, upon being elected into office.
According to Choi, this is more influential than any lobbying, fundraising and special interests in determining the allocation of services and resources from the city council.
“When people see who voted and where, that’s how they make their decision. That’s what the Filipino community can do in this race, to make a stamp on the 13th district for the next four, eight, twelve years,” Choi said.
“People should realize that their voice absolutely matters and that every single vote matters. We can surprise a lot of people in this race,” he added.
During a candidates’ forum in early May, Choi claimed that his opponent’s campaign perpetrated a a black propaganda that branded him as an ‘outsider,’ as someone who is ‘not one of us’ and other negative stereotypes attached to being an immigrant.
He explained that this negative perception on the immigrant community can be challenged, can be countered through the ballot.
By coming out to vote as a community, immigrants can voice their “frustration and anger” against these negative stereotypes.
Preserving the immigrant voice is important for every Filipino-American, every Asian American, every person of color in LA, and every person that feels like they’re not represented, Choi explained.
“It’s the only way to make change happen,” Choi said.
“We’re not going to win a war of words [going] back and forth. The only way we can battle that that is through the ballot box.”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend May 18-21, 2013 Sec. A pg.8)
