vietnamese migrants

[clay dube]

Kathleen mentioned a KPCC report on Vietnamese Amerasians, the prejudice they faced in Vietnam, the difficulties some have in the US, and efforts to secure citizenship for them. Click on the link below to hear the report.

http://www.scpr.org/play/audio.php?media=/news/features/2004/08/20040809_features1

A second report is due on Wednesday. Look for it at http://www.kpcc.org.

An Orange County group worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center to develop a rich curriculum guide on Vietnamese migrants. The entire guide can be downloaded at:

http://www.tolerance.org/teach/expand/vietnamese/

[clay dube]

On Wednesday, 8/11, NPR's Mandalit del Barco reported on political passions and generational differences in Orange County's Little Saigon. Click on the link below and scroll down to "Ideology Shifts Among Calif. Vietnamese Immigrants" to listen to her report.

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=11-Aug-2004&prgId=3

Little Saigon is heavily Republican -- see this NPR Day to Day report on a May rally there:

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1892130

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed today's seminar on Vietnamese Americans. I had a friend in high school who came on a boat when he was an infant. He came with his sister and aunt. His aunt basically raised him and he calls her "mom." Today's seminar really helped me to understand the reasons for coming over. I didn't realize that Vietnamese families had to leave so much behind and that family structures changed so much because of the unexpected transition to the US.

[Anonymous]

I also enjoyed the seminar today...From personal experience, my mom told me my family was going to be split up at home point. When we were in Vietnam, my mom wanted to go to the United States but my dad wanted to go the China where his mother was. My mother said we could split up....she will take me and he will take my older sister. The plan was for them to join us afterward. Luckily, my mom "convinced" my dad to stay together. I was only a year old at the time when we were the second wave of the Boat People.
Clayton, I couldn't get to the website...what am I doing wrong? Oh,....I guess I'll figure it out 🙁

[Anonymous]

May,
It is so hard for me to comprehend the struggles that your family went through when you were a young child. The decision that your parents had to make as to whether they were going to break up the family must have created tremendous stress for them. Luckily, your father decided to come with your mother to the U.S. I have a friend who is from Vietnam and when Saigon collapsed his parents made the decision to send him to the U.S. He told me that the hardships and struggles he had to endure still haunt him to this day. I am happy to see that your family remained together.
Janice

[Anonymous]

From Belinda:

The session on Vietnamese migrants raised the issue of family separation and the hard choices made by those who fled the country. Having to choose between family members is awful. How many students of mine have had this happen to their families?

I heard one of the NPR clips on Vietnamese migrants (for example, in search for their American fathers). The report on how depression and poverty affects this population is telling. Refugees need support if they are to settle successfully. One of the persons interviewed described feeling out of place throughout his life. His generation is having difficulty coping. I think the generation going through our education system now will not have the same difficulties, yet still suffer from lack of support at home, as well as cultural identity issues.

[Author]

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