Asians and Latinos are discovering that they should take part in the political activities in this country. What a government does affects them too, and they can change things, but not if they are silent. - - Donna Poisl
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF • DAILY RECORD •
When Ed Correa runs for Dover alderman next year, his candidacy could mark a change in the way Latinos approach politics in the town and elsewhere.
He won't be the first Latino to run for Dover office; the town had a Latino mayor a few years ago. But Correa is not simply running on his own. He's expected to be part of a slate of Latino candidates across the state, perhaps one of several running in Morris County.
A Daily Record survey found minorities are underrepresented in government across Morris County compared to their population numbers -- especially Latinos and Asians, the county's largest and fastest-growing minorities. There are no Latino elected officials in the county's two largest Latino communities, Dover and Morristown. And while Asian-Americans make up at least 26 percent of Parsippany's population, they have no elected officials there.
Members of the Latino and Asian communities say their lack of participation stems at least partly from a large number of first-generation immigrants too busy working and learning about American culture to run for office. Their children and grandchildren probably won't feel the same way, they say.
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