Jennifer Condado
Litr 4333
Dr. White

Vietnamese American Immigration

Intro:

            The population in the United States has been increasing every year and is very diverse. One of the ethnic groups that contribute to the diversity is the Vietnamese American immigrants who are sometimes ignored and pushed into the category of “Asians”. This makes it hard for Americans to learn more about the Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, and other cultures because they are always classified as one, however, each ethnic group has their own story to tell about how and why they migrated to the United States. In this journal I want to learn about the experiences that the Vietnamese faced when coming to America and what there motive was. I want to learn about their country and culture so that I can compare and be able to understand the challenges that a Vietnamese American might be passing through as they find their identity in this land where there are many cultural influences.  I began to read stories of first generation immigrants and then tried to figure out what type of immigrant they belonged to. I also compared the first generation with the second generation by conducting an interview with my co- worker Brenda who is a Vietnamese American.

Immigrant Experiences:

            Heart of Sorrows is a book that illustrates the experiences of those Vietnamese Americans who has been affected by the Vietnam War and the problems they confronted when they came to America. The author, James Freeman, saw a need for more Vietnamese literature and with the help of “ordinary” people he was able to provide us with their experiences.  These essays are all from first generation immigrants and are in order of the immigration process which includes: hearts of sorrow, life in Vietnam, sorrows of war, sorrows of liberation, flight to freedom,  and America: the heartbreak beneath success. These immigrants have gone through a lot and much of it because they flee from political oppression in search of freedom; however, many find themselves in a cage. Most of the elderly are not able to assimilate; they are shocked when they learn how different the American culture is. They don’t agree with their views and customs, like preferring the individual against family. The elderly have a hard time communicating with their children as the children begin to assimilate and start eating American food, altering their tradition, and arguing with their parents. Many immigrants have a hard time adjusting to transportation issues and the community that is found in the suburbs. Loneliness is what lies in many of their hearts, but almost all of the Vietnamese express gratitude toward the United States because they acted kind and helped them out of the communist authoritarian government that had taken over Vietnam. In American the Vietnamese are able to live in peace and are able to see their children grow. A touching passage of the book reads: 

“There is a sorrow of the Vietnamese people. Actually they didn’t want to leave their homeland, but they have to because of the regime under which they could no longer live. I think the Vietnamese are the most unfortunate people in history. They were born in the wrong century, at an inappropriate time. If only they had been born a century earlier or late, they would not have had so many bad events happen to them. Even after 30 years of war they could not live in peace, but has to leave their country. They are no different from any other people, so why did they have to suffer so much? If we have to cry for the Vietnamese people, only an ocean can contain all the tears.”

Vietnamese are known for being one of the few ethnic groups who managed to get out of poverty and become part of the middle class in a short period of time. Research shows that it is due to their cultural values of dedication to family life, education, and thrift. Although many of the Vietnamese Americans still have some of these values family life is evolving to importance on the individual. With the opportunities that America offers many female Vietnamese are taking advantage and becoming successful. Unfortunately this creates a conflict because the begin to walk on what they call an “ideological tightrope” in which they want to use these opportunities, yet not alter any of their traditional lifestyles. As more generations surge these tightropes are shorten until there is a total assimilation to the American culture where family is not emphasized as much. The life of the Vietnamese has changed greatly in America. Of these one of the most critized is the way many Vietnamese Americans construct their families. They alter the family from what the tradition was of having a collective economy household, which encouraged what is best for the economy of the family, not the individual.  The patriarchal family is more lenient. Parents have to depend on their Americanized children; therefore, many of the children argue or ignore their parent’s advice. The values of respect and honoring the elderly are quickly diminishing as they are not being passed on to the other generations. In the third generation it is common to know a Vietnamese American who can’t doesn’t eat, speak, nor live like a Vietnamese.

According to E.F. Kunz there are two types of refugees, the anticipatory and the acute. The anticipatory are those who migrate in preparation and anticipate what lies ahead, while the acute flee in large groups because it is life threatening. The type of immigration effects how easy the immigrants are able to assimilate to the new land. The Vietnamese immigrants, however, are a little of both. The Vietnamese migration is therefore called SIM, Spontaneous International Migration because even though the Vietnamese were forced to leave their country due to the communist regime that took over and they came in massive amount, they had contact with the American governments and with the French influence even knew the American language. Since they had anticipatory socialization with the United States it was easier for many Vietnamese to adapt to the new conditions in the United States where they would be free, however, the process could be delayed since many of the immigrants, especially the elderly, refused to leave Vietnam until they were finally forced to. Having characteristics of the acute immigration makes it harder for them to accept the American values and it explains the shock and feeling of loneliness when they see their children change so much. The immigrants try to resist assimilation and form ethnic enclaves where they can keep traditions and feel more at home. Do these ethnic enclaves conflict with the American mosaic, where we should accept and share each others culture?

Interview with Trang P Nguyen ( Brenda):

Trang P Nguyen is a 21 year old American immigrant who identifies herself as American. She feels that she is more American than Vietnamese because she has fully assimilated. I interviewed her to find more information about how she deals with both cultures and how she feels about it.

Who were the first of your family to migrate from Vietnam?

My father and mother migrated from Vietnam before they had any children.

How and why did they migrate to the United States?

My parents lived a very rough life in Vietnam, but don’t talk about it much, the only details that I remember is that they said it wasn’t common to see dead bodies in the street. When ever they decided to come to the US they traveled illegally to Thailand and then flew to the US after my uncle got their resident. The good thing was that the US even paid for their flight.

What are some traditions that you have hold on to and why?

My religion is very important to me because it is one of things that my parents believe in strongly and always gave its place. Another thing is the cooking. I love Vietnamese food, when I was little I ate American food at school and Asian food at the house because my mother refuses to cook American food. 

Do you keep in touch with any family members in Vietnam and how do they perceive you?

The only person I keep in touch with is my aunt who was very nice to me when I visited Vietnam last year. All my other family members made me feel out of place because of my tanned color. In Vietnam the lighter you are the better because means you have a higher social status. While I was there I didn’t feel Vietnamese and they considered me like white-washed, so I didn’t belong. Of course this didn’t make me feel bad because I think it is ignorant for people to think they should keep traditions while your in a country that allows you to share with many other cultures and learn from all of them so you can find your own identity. It’s almost like they want to escape from their country, yet come to American where the money grows on trees and be part of the Vietnamese group that sticks to the traditions.

How do the immigrants share their experiences?

Most of them share their experience oral by stories and don’t write much about it. Unfortunately I‘ve during all my school years and in college I have not gotten across to any literature concerning Vietnamese immigration.

How easy or challenging was it to assimilate to the United States?

It was very easy, I consider myself American and I think that is because of my parents support. I believe most Vietnamese immigrants support their children in the assimilation process because they want them to become doctors and be successful and in order to do that their children must assimilate. In my family my sisters and I have even changed our name to American names because it’s easier. For example my legal name is Trang, but everyone knows me as Brenda. My sister’s names are Sharon and Kelly.

When and how did you choose your name?

I was beginning Intermediate and my sisters had already changed their names to what they liked or characters they saw on TV (does Kelly from 90210 sound familiar?). I didn’t want to stand out or have one of those weird name they can’t pronounce so I changed it to Brenda because of the series 90210 and its stayed like that ever since.

After interviewing Brenda I felt that she was in stage 5 of the immigrant narrative because she has fully assimilate to the dominant culture, but respects and is proud of being Vietnamese.

History of Immigration:

            The country of Vietnam is located in the southeastern coast of the Indochinese peninsula and is “S” shaped. Vietnam is bordered by China, Laos, and Cambodia. A mythological belief is that the Vietnamese people came from the marriage of the Dragon Lord of Lac and the mountain princess, Au Co, who when they procreated had so many children they were divided with half living in the sea and the others with their mom in the Red River.  The Vietnamese people are a mixture of different racial groups which include Austro- Indonesian and Mongolian. Because of this it is not rare to have mixed marriages where one is Vietnamese and the other Chinese. The Chinese have greatly influenced the Vietnamese while they occupied the land. Among the influence language was the strongest. Vietnam was also occupied by the French and Japanese and each time the Vietnamese adapted some of the foreign cultures, but never assimilated and kept their culture. This is one of the reasons why many elderly experience sadness in their life when they come to America and see how fast their offspring assimilate and almost give up the Vietnamese culture, however, there is hope that they will not forget about their culture since they haven’t let other countries change it.

            Communism came to Vietnam and even though many Vietnamese resisted this authoritarian system which controlled not only how they should live, but how to think, had to eventually give up their precious land and leave everything behind. Many Vietnamese were well educated who owned their own businesses, but as soon as the new government came in the businesses were taken from them and men were sent to education camps that were horrifying. The condition in Vietnam begins to worsen which led the United States to intervene for them. Soon the Vietnamese began to migrate, first to other countries close by and then to America, the land of the free. There were two major waves of immigration to America. The first one was from April of 1975 to 1977 that was composed of three waves. The first wave involved ten to fifteen thousand of immigrants who left Vietnam early before the government collapsed, then came another set of immigrants of eighty thousand who were evacuated by aircraft, and lastly came the third wave of sixty thousands. The first immigrants were mostly educated and had positioned in society by at least owning their own business, while the last immigrants were so poor that they had to build their own boats to cross the ocean. These small boats were many times sabotage by Thai sea pirates and decreased the number of refuges that entered the United States. All the Vietnamese immigrants experienced many challenges and suffering, but those who migrated earlier or who were younger had a better experience than the rest because the restrictions were not as strict.

            When the immigrants arrived to the United States they were not greeted with arms opened, but instead with hostility due to the effect that the Vietnam War had on America. It took many years for American citizens to accept them, but there were other citizens who lent them a hand and sponsored families. Many Vietnamese turned to other countries for refugee like Hong Kong and Singapore. This situation broke up many extended families and many were grateful at least to maintain their immediate family members.

            Because refugee camps were made fore temporary purposes only they were not constructed as communities and instead were small and provided only the essentials. Although many citizens were against the Vietnamese, under the presidency of Gerald Ford the government passed the Refugee Dispersion Policy which was designed to relocate the refugees quickly so they could no longer depend on the camp, ease the impact of large communities to avoid an increase in competition in the job market, logistically easier to find a sponsor, and prevent development of an ethnic ghetto. This policy was done more for financial and political reasons rather than social, even though the U.S. government hoped it would help the Vietnamese assimilate a lot easier. There were four ways to get out of the refugee camp life and enter into American society which include: resettlement to a third country, repartition to Vietnam, proof of financial independence, and location of a sponsor through voluntary agency. Although they had many ways to leave not many Vietnamese were able to because they didn’t want to move into another country and begin a new life and very few were willing to travel back to Vietnam. Although many were successful and lived a very luxurious life in Vietnam all was lost when they migrated to the U.S. and therefore many Vietnamese immigrants could not meet the $4,000 requirement for each member and would have to stay. Having a sponsor was often used, unless the immigrant had no family members than or had a church willing to support them for at least 3 years. The Vietnamese lacked much emotional, social and psychological support but they were able to endure tough times at the beginning of their migration and eventually were able to live in the American society which most Vietnamese immigrants have familiarized with now.

            Many of their experiences are shared and passed along each generation through word of mouth, but recently many Vietnamese Americans have become aware of the importance of writing about their immigration to American and sharing their lives. They are trying to make an effort to preserve their roots and heritage through literature which is the reason that we are able to find books like Hearts of Sorrow and websites that are strictly to inform the public about the Vietnamese immigration.

CONCLUSION:

            Having researched the Vietnamese immigration experience opened many more questions about the experiences of other immigrants and the history behind the country.

I think that every American should value the struggles and suffering that the Vietnamese experience and look at the impact that they have given to America. They have played a part in making the United States of America what it was back then and are still today, the land of freedom and opportunity. The Vietnamese immigrants have brought to American their festivals, food, ethnic enclave, and political participation. America is beautiful mosaic in which each immigrant culture enriches it and makes America a blessing.

            The Vietnamese Immigrants have been able to overcome many challenges and even though they have assimilated and some find themselves in the stage number two of the immigrant narrative it is interesting how each culture copes with it differently. I enjoyed expanding my knowledge on other types of migration that isn’t the Mexican immigrants. I have learned to be more open minded about each ethnic cultures and struggles. I do no longer just think of Hispanics when I listen to the word immigrant and am able to understand the motive and experience that the Vietnamese had to go through to find peace.