On June 19, thousands of Los Angeles thousands of residents voted on what seems to be an innocuous, bureaucratic ballot initiative. But the vote has turned into a turf war, as immigrant groups in the city fight to be represented.

Korean and BangladeshiAmericans voted on a ballot initiative to decide whether to split the existing Wilshire CenterKoreatown neighborhood council — which serves roughly 100,000 citizens, 20,000 of whom are Bangladeshi — into two separate districts. The new council, which would govern the Bangladeshi community on 3rd street, would be renamed as Wilshire CenterLittle Bangladesh.

The proposal was met with intense opposition from Koreatown’s political and cultural forces who likened it from everything to the Israel Palestine conflict to eminent domain.

Through an intensive social media campaign that encouraged every ablebodied KoreanAmerican in the Los Angeles area to vote against the proposal, the community argued that the establishment of Little Bangladesh would erase a cultural history that was built out of the ruins of the Los Angeles Riots.

Their activism spilled over into the physical world through rallies and voter sign ups throughout the neighborhood. And on the 19th, an overwhelming number of KoreanAmericans showed up to the polls and voted down the ballot initiative by a 98%2% margin.

VICE News went to Koreatown before the vote to talk to both sides of the conflict and to explore what happens when an immigrant neighborhood, which had been more or less politically dormant, wakes up.

Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/SubscribetoVICENews

Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com

Follow VICE News here:
Facebook:   / vicenews  
Twitter:   / vicenews  
Tumblr:   / vicenews  
Instagram:   / vicenews  
More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo