A Vietnamese American (Vietnamese: người Mỹ gốc Việt) is a resident of the United States who is of Vietnamese heritage. Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. The following is a list of US cities with large Vietnamese American populations. Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. Mahayana ( Sanskrit: mahāyāna, Devanagari: महायान 'Great Vehicle' is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for Confucianism ( is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the fifth century B Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings The Vietnamese people (người Việt or vi ''người Kinh'' are an Ethnic group originating from what is now northern Vietnam and southern China. Overseas Vietnamese ( Vietnamese: Việt Kiều, a Sino-Vietnamese word literally translating to "Vietnamese sojourner" refers to Vietnamese Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Vietnamese people (người Việt or vi ''người Kinh'' are an Ethnic group originating from what is now northern Vietnam and southern China. They make up the bulk of overseas Vietnamese (Việt Kiều) and are the fourth-largest Asian American group. Overseas Vietnamese ( Vietnamese: Việt Kiều, a Sino-Vietnamese word literally translating to "Vietnamese sojourner" refers to Vietnamese Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian

Mass Vietnamese immigration to the United States started after 1975, after the end of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Early immigrants were refugee boat people fleeing persecution by the victorious communists. Boat people is a term that usually refers to Illegal immigrants or Asylum seekers who emigrate en masse in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made rendering Forced to flee from their homeland and often thrusted into poor urban neighborhoods, these newcomers have nevertheless managed to establish strong communities in a short amount of time.

Demographics

As a relatively recent immigrant group, most Vietnamese Americans are either first- or second-generation Americans. They have the lowest distribution of people with more than one race among the major Asian American groups. Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian As many as one million people who are five years and older speak Vietnamese at home—making it the seventh-most spoken language in the United States. Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) The United States does not have an Official language; however the majority of the population speaks English as a native language (about 82% As refugees, Vietnamese Americans have some of the highest rates of naturalization. In 2000, 44% of foreign-born Vietnamese are American citizens, the highest rate among all Asian groups. ^[2] In the 2006 American Community Survey, 72% of foreign-born Vietnamese are naturalized US citizens; this combined with the 36% who are born in the United States makes 82% of them United States citizen in total. The American Community Survey (ACS is a project of the US Census Bureau that replaces the long form in the decennial Census. Of those born outside the United States, 46. 5% entered before 1990, 38. 8% between 1990 and 2000, and 14. 6% entered after 2000. ^[1].

According to the 2000 Census, there are 1,122,528 people who identify themselves as Vietnamese alone or 1,223,736 in combination with other ethnicities, ranking fourth among the Asian American groups. Of those, 447,032 (39. 8%) live in California and 134,961 (12. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. 0%) in Texas. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The largest number of Vietnamese found outside of Vietnam is found in Orange County, California—totalling 135,548. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. Vietnamese American businesses are ubiquitous in Little Saigon, located in Westminster and Garden Grove, where they constitute 30. This article deals exclusively with the Vietnamese communities within the United States of America; for other communities outside Vietnam refer to the Overseas Vietnamese Westminster is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Garden Grove is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. 7 and 21. 4 percent of the population, respectively. States such as New York, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, Florida, Virginia and to some extent, Rhode Island have fast growing Vietnamese populations. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. Minnesota ( Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Rhode Island ( officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States The San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle metropolitan area, Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, Washington D.C. area, Los Angeles metropolitan area and the Houston metropolitan area have sizable Vietnamese communities. The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the The Dallas – Fort Worth – Arlington metropolitan area, a title designated by the U Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Recently, the Vietnamese immigration pattern has shifted to other states like Oklahoma (Oklahoma City in particular) and Oregon (Portland in particular). Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the US state of Oklahoma. Oregon ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the Confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers

Vietnamese Americans are much more likely to be Christians than Vietnamese that are residing in Vietnam. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings While Christians (mainly Roman Catholics) make up about six percent of Vietnam's total population, they compose as much as 23 percent of the total Vietnamese American population. ^[3]

According to the 2006 American Community Survey, the Vietnamese American population had grown to 1,599,394 and remains the second largest Southeast Asian American subgroup following the Filipino American community. The American Community Survey (ACS is a project of the US Census Bureau that replaces the long form in the decennial Census. Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian Filipino Americans are Americans of Philippine ancestry which trace back to the Philippines, an archipelagic nation in Southeast Asia. ^[1]

History

South Vietnamese refugees on US carrier, Operation Frequent Wind

A boat person in a refugee camp

The history of Vietnamese Americans is a fairly recent one. Operation Frequent Wind was the Emergency evacuation by Helicopter from Saigon, South Vietnam, in April 1975 during the last days Prior to 1975, most Vietnamese residing in the United States were wives and children of American servicemen in Vietnam or academia, and their number was insignificant. According to the U. S. Immigration and Naturalization services, only 650 Vietnamese arrived from 1950 to 1974. The Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975—which ended the Vietnam War—prompted the first large-scale wave of immigration from Vietnam. The Fall of Saigon (in Vietnamese: Sự kiện 30 tháng 4 - April 30 Incident; Giải phóng miền Nam - The liberation of the south Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Many people who had close ties with the Americans or with the then Republic of Vietnam government feared promised communist reprisals. So, 125,000 of them left Vietnam during the spring of 1975. This group was generally highly-skilled and educated. They were airlifted by the U. S. government to bases in the Philippines and Guam, and were subsequently transferred to various refugee centers in the United States. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Guam ( Chamorro: cha Guåhån) officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

South Vietnamese refugees initially faced resentment by Americans following the turmoil and upheaval of the Vietnam War. A poll taken in 1975 showed only 36 percent of Americans were in favor of Vietnamese immigration. President Gerald Ford and other officials strongly supported Vietnamese immigration to the U. Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr (July 14 1913 December 26 2006 was the thirty-eighth President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 and the fortieth Vice President S. and passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Act in 1975, which allowed Vietnamese refugees to enter the United States under a special status. In order to prevent the refugees from forming ethnic enclaves and to minimize their impact on local communities, they were scattered all over the country. Within a few years, however, many resettled in California and Texas. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State.

The year 1978 began a second wave of Vietnamese refugees that lasted until the mid-1980s. As South Vietnamese people—especially former military officers and government employees—were sent to Communist "reeducation camps," about two million people fled Vietnam in small, unsafe, and crowded boats. Reeducation camp (trại học tập cải tạo is the official name given to the Prison camps operated by the Government of Vietnam following These "boat people" were generally lower on the socioeconomic ladder than the people in the first wave. Boat people is a term that usually refers to Illegal immigrants or Asylum seekers who emigrate en masse in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made rendering Vietnamese escaping by boat usually ended up in asylum camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, or the Philippines—where they might be allowed to enter countries that agreed to accept them. The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and Singapore The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP

Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980, reducing restrictions on entry, while the Vietnamese government established the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in response to world outcry—allowing people to leave Vietnam legally for family reunions and for humanitarian reasons. The Refugee Act is a 1980 United States federal law that reformed United States immigration law and admitted refugees on systematic basis for humanitarian reasons The Orderly Departure Program (ODP was a program to permit immigration of Vietnamese refugees to the United States of America, instituted in 1979 under Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR (established December 14, 1950) is a Additional American laws were passed allowing children of American servicemen and former political prisoners and their families to enter the United States. Another peak of Vietnamese immigrants to the US was in 1992, when many individuals in Vietnam's reeducation camps were released or sponsored by their families to come to the United States. Reeducation camp (trại học tập cải tạo is the official name given to the Prison camps operated by the Government of Vietnam following Between 1981 and 2000, the United States accepted 531,310 Vietnamese political refugees and asylees. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Politics

As refugees from a Communist country, many Vietnamese Americans are strongly opposed to communism. Vietnamese Americans regularly stage protests against the Vietnamese government, its human rights policy and those whom they perceive to be sympathetic to it. Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled For example, in 1999, protests against a video store owner in Westminster, California, who displayed the Vietnamese communist flag and a picture of Ho Chi Minh peaked when 15,000 people held a vigil in front of the store in one night, causing debates regarding free speech. Westminster is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The flag of Vietnam, also known as the "red flag with yellow star" ( cờ đỏ sao vàng) was adopted as the flag of the Vietminh, a For the city named after him see Ho Chi Minh City. Hồ Chí Minh (name Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. Membership in the Democratic Party was once considered anathema among Vietnamese Americans because it was seen as less anti-communist than the Republican Party. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. However, their support for the Republican Party has somewhat eroded in recent years, as the Democratic Party has become seen in a more favorable light by the second generation as well as by newer, poorer refugees^[4]. However, the Republican Party still has overwhelming support; in Orange County, Vietnamese Americans registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats at 55% and 22%, respectively. ^[5] Exit polls during the 2004 presidential election show that 72% of Vietnamese American voters in the 8 eastern states polled voted for Republican incumbent George W. Bush compared to only 28% who voted for the Democratic challenger John Kerry. The United States presidential election of 2004 was held on Tuesday November 2, 2004, to elect the President of the United States. George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. } John Forbes Kerry (born December 11 1943 is an American Politician who is currently serving his fourth term as the junior United States Senator ^[6] The Republican Party's particularly strong tradition of Anti-Communism tends to make it more attractive to older Vietnamese Americans. Anti-communism refers to opposition to Communism. Historically the word "communism" has been used to refer to several types of communal social organization and

Vietnam War memorial commemorating American and South Vietnamese soldiers in Westminster, California

Recently, Vietnamese Americans have exercised considerable political power in Orange County, Silicon Valley, and other areas. Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley. Many have won public offices at the local and statewide levels in California and Texas. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. One Vietnamese American, Janet Nguyen, serves on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, one is serving as mayor of Rosemead, California and several serve or have served in the city councils of Westminster, Garden Grove, San Jose,^[7] and places as varied as Clarkston, Georgia. Janet Q Nguyen (born 1976 is the County Supervisor from the First District of Orange County California. The Board of Supervisors is the body governing Counties in the U Rosemead is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Clarkston is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. In 2004, Van Tran, a Republican candidate and Hubert Vo, a Democratic candidate, were elected to the state legislatures of California and Texas, respectively. Van Thai Tran ( Trần Thái Văn in Vietnamese, born October 19 1964) is a U Hubert Vo (Võ in Vietnamese (born 30 May 1956) is a member of the Viet Dinh was the Assistant Attorney General of the United States from 2001 to 2003 who was the chief architect of the USA PATRIOT Act. Viet D Dinh (Đinh Đồng Phụng Việt born February 22, 1968) is a lawyer who served as the Assistant Attorney General of Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General. The USA PATRIOT Act, commonly known as the Patriot Act, is a controversial Act of Congress that U In 2006, as many as 15 Vietnamese Americans were running for elective office in California alone,^[8] a sign of the growing maturity of the community. For federal elective office, at least two candidates have run for a seat in the United States House of Representatives as their party's official candidate. The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. ^[9] In 2006, Hong Tran made what may be the most ambitious campaign yet for a Vietnamese American, running for election to the United States Senate from the state of Washington (she came in a distant second in the Democratic Party primary). Hong Thi Tran (born May 5 1966) was a candidate in the Washington Democratic Party Primary election for the United States Senate The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. ^[10] Some Vietnamese Americans have recently lobbied many city and state governments to make the former South Vietnamese flag instead of the current flag of Vietnam the symbol of Vietnamese in the United States, a move which raised objections from the Vietnamese government. The flag of former South Vietnam was designed by Emperor Thành Thái in 1890 and was used by Emperor Bảo Đại in 1948 Their efforts resulted in the California and Ohio state governments enacting legislations to adopt that flag in August 2006. From February 2003 to January 2006, in the USA, 9 States, 3 Counties and 76 Cities have adopted Resolutions recognizing the yellow flag as the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag. ^[11]

Economics

Phuoc Loc Tho, the first Vietnamese-American shopping center in Little Saigon, California

Vietnamese Americans income and social class levels are quite diverse. Many Vietnamese Americans are middle class professionals who fled from the increasing power of the Communist Party after the Vietnam War, while others work primarily in blue-collar jobs. The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia In San Jose, California, for example, this diversity in income levels can be seen in the different Vietnamese American neighborhoods scattered across Santa Clara County. Santa Clara County is a County located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U In the Downtown San Jose area, many Vietnamese are working-class and are employed in many blue-collar positions such as restaurant cooks, repairmen, and movers, while the Evergreen and Berryessa sections of the city are middle- to upper–middle class neighborhoods with large Vietnamese American populations—many of whom work in Silicon Valley's computer, networking, and aerospace industries. Downtown San José is the Central business district of San José, California, United States. The Berryessa District in San Jose, California is located in the northeast portion of the city between Coyote Creek and the Diablo Range foothills For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley. In Little Saigon of Orange County, there are significant socioeconomic disparities between the established and successful Vietnamese Americans who arrived in the first wave and the later arrivals of low-income refugees. This article deals exclusively with the Vietnamese communities within the United States of America; for other communities outside Vietnam refer to the Overseas Vietnamese Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States.

Vietnamese Americans have come to America primary as refugees, with little or no money. While (on a collective basis) not as academically or financially accomplished as their East Asian counterparts, (who generally have been in the US longer, and did not come as war or political refugees but for economic reasons), census shows that Vietnamese Americans are an upwardly mobile group. Although clear challenges remain for the community, their economic status improved dramatically between 1989 and 1999. In 1989, 34 percent of Vietnamese Americans lived under the poverty line, but this number was reduced to 16 percent in 1999, compared with just over 12 percent of the U. S. population overall.

Many Vietnamese Americans have established businesses in Little Saigons and Chinatowns throughout North America. This article deals exclusively with the Vietnamese communities within the United States of America; for other communities outside Vietnam refer to the Overseas Vietnamese A Chinatown is a section of an urban area with a large number of Chinese outside the majority-Chinese countries of Greater China. Indeed, some Vietnamese immigrants, have been highly instrumental in intiating the development and redevelopment of once declining older Chinatowns, as they tend to find themselves attracted to such areas. Like many other immigrant groups, the majority of Vietnamese Americans are small business owners. Throughout the United States, many Vietnamese—especially first or second-generation immigrants—open supermarkets, restaurants (serving either ethnic Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamized Chinese cuisine, or both; hence, phở and chả giò has since become popular Vietnamese food in the United States), bánh mì restaurants, beauty salons and barber shops, and auto repair businesses. Chinese cuisine ( Traditional Chinese: 中國菜 Simplified Chinese: 中国菜 originated from the various regions of China and has become widespread in Phở (fɤ̂ in Vietnamese; in English written pho and typically) is a traditional Vietnamese An egg roll is an Appetizer which was originally eaten in East Asia but has spread throughout the world as a staple of Asian cuisine Bánh mì or bánh mỳ (ˈbʌn mi in English and ʔɓɐ̌ːɲ mì] in Vietnamese) is a Vietnamese Baguette made with Wheat and Cosmetology (from Greek grc κοσμητικός kosmētikos, "skilled in adornment" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study

Tet Festival in Little Saigon, Orange County, California

The younger generations of the Vietnamese-American population are well educated and often find themselves providing professional services. This article deals exclusively with the Vietnamese communities within the United States of America; for other communities outside Vietnam refer to the Overseas Vietnamese Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. As the older generation tend to find difficulty in interacting with the non-Vietnamese professional class, there are many Vietnamese-Americans that provide specialized professional services to fellow Vietnamese immigrants. Of these, a small number are owned by Vietnamese Americans of Chinese ethnicity. In the Gulf Coast region—such as Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama—some Vietnamese Americans are involved with the fish and shrimp industries. The Gulf Coast region of the United States comprises the coasts of states which border the Gulf of Mexico. The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States Alabama (formally the State of Alabama;) is a State located in the southern region of the United States of America. Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two True shrimp are swimming decapod Crustaceans classified in the Infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh In California's Silicon Valley, many work in the valley's computer and networking businesses and industries, although many were laid off in the aftermath of the closure of many high-technology companies. For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley.

Many Vietnamese parents pressure their children to excel in school and to enter professional fields such as science, medicine, or engineering because the parents feel insecurity stemming from their chaotic past and view education as the only ticket to a better life. Another factor contributing to the fact that some Vietnamese do well in sciences, is that Vietnam is a Confucianist society, which values education and learning. Confucianism ( is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the fifth century B Many have worked their way up from menial labor to have their second-generation children attend universities and become successful.

Recent immigrants who do not speak English well tend to work in menial labor jobs like assembly, restaurant/shop workers, nail and hair salons. A nail salon is a beauty services establishment that offers nail care services such as manicures pedicures and nail enhancements primarily A high percentage (about 37 percent nationwide and 80 percent in California according to Nguoi Viet Daily newspaper) of nail salons are owned and operated by Vietnamese Americans. The work involved in nail salons takes skilled manual labor, but requires only limited English speaking ability. Some Vietnamese Americans see working in nail salons as a fast way to build wealth, many Vietnamese will send earnings back to Vietnam to help family members abroad. This concept and economic niche has proven so successful that visiting overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs from Britain have also adopted the Vietnamese American model and opened several nail salons in the United Kingdom as well, where few previously existed.

In the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Vietnamese Americans have accounted for between 45-85% of the shrimping business in the region. The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest Body of water in the world The dumping of imported shrimp (ironically from Vietnam), however, have affected their source of livelihood. In economics " dumping " can refer to any kind of Predatory pricing. [5]

Societal perception and portrayal

According to a study my the Manhattan Institute in 2008, Vietnamese Americans are among the most assimilated immigrant groups in the United States. The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research is a conservative market-oriented Think tank established in New York City in 1978 by Antony The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[12] While their rates of cultural and economic assimilation were unexceptional compared to other groups (perhaps due to language differences between English and Vietnamese), their rates of civic assimilation was highest among all the large immigrant groups. ^[12] Vietnamese Americans, being political refugees, view their stay in the United States as permanent and became involved in the political process in higher rates than other groups.

As with other ethnic minority groups in United States, Vietnamese Americans have come into conflict with the larger U. S. population, particularly in how they are perceived and portrayed. There have been degrees of hostility directed toward Vietnamese Americans. For example, in the U.S. Gulf Coast, the white fishermen complained of unfair competition from their Vietnamese American counterparts resulting in hostility. The Gulf Coast region of the United States comprises the coasts of states which border the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1980s, the Ku Klux Klan attempted to intimidate Vietnamese American shrimpers. Ku Klux Klan ( KKK) is the name of several past and present secret domestic terrorist organizations in the United States, generally in the southern states that are [6] Vietnamese American fishermen are banded together to form the first Vietnamese Fishermen Association of America to represent their interests.

Some low-income African Americans have made complaints that Vietnamese refugees receive more government assistance than they ever have.

Gang activities have become a concern among the Vietnamese American population and law enforcement. For example, in 1992 in Sacramento, a major robbery and shoot-out occurred at an electronic retailer between Vietnamese American gangs and the local police. Another example is when Vietnamese American gangs commit violent home invasion robberies toward wealthy Vietnamese American families. Some cafes in Little Saigon of Orange County have been rumored to be fronts for gang activity. Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States.

While gangs have become part of the reality and societal perception of Vietnamese Americans, a contrary perception of young Vietnamese Americans as high achievers has also become common. This has resulted in a valedictorian or delinquency myth. Some studies [7], show that there is a real world basis to the "valedictorian-delinquent" perception of Vietnamese American youth. Based on field work in a Vietnamese American community, social scientists argue that Vietnamese American communities often have dense, well-organized sets of social ties that provide encouragement to and social control of children. At the same time, these communities are often located in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods at the margins of American society. Vietnamese children who maintain close connections to their own communities are often driven to succeed, while those who are outsiders to their own society often assimilate into some of the most alienated youth cultures of American society and fall into delinquency. [8]

Ethnic subgroups

While the census data only count those who report themselves to be ethnically Vietnamese, the way some other ethnic groups from Vietnam view themselves may affect census reporting. The Vietnamese people (người Việt or vi ''người Kinh'' are an Ethnic group originating from what is now northern Vietnam and southern China.

Vietnam-born Chinese

A fraction of Vietnamese Americans consists of ethnic overseas Chinese who immigrated to Vietnam centuries ago. As a result, some Vietnamese Americans also speak fluent Cantonese (although with Vietnamese influence, "Vietnamese" Cantonese differs slightly from Cantonese spoken by immigrants hailing from Guangdong, China and in Hong Kong) and serves somewhat as a bridge between the Vietnamese American and Chinese American communities, which in turn helps create the Asian American identity. Guangdong ( EFEO: Kouangtong; Pinyin Guǎngdōng; Postal map spelling: Kwangtung) is a province on the China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Chinese Americans ( Chinese: 华裔美国人 are Americans of Chinese descent Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian Chinese Vietnamese Americans generally code-switch between Cantonese and Vietnamese when conversing with fellow ethnic Chinese immigrants from Vietnam. Code-switching is a term in Linguistics referring to using more than one language or variety in conversation Teochew Chinese, a comparatively obscure Chinese dialect somewhat unheard of in the United States before its arrival in the 1980s, is also commonly spoken by another group of Vietnamese-born ethnic Chinese immigrants, but is not used in general discourse. Some Vietnamese Americans may also speak Mandarin as a third or fourth language, in all aspects of business and interaction.

However, due to the possession of Vietnamese-style names - such as Tran (a very common surname among Vietnamese-born Chinese immigrants as Nguyen is to the ethnic Vietnamese), Ly, Pham, Phung, Luu and so on - and the Vietnamese language, ethnic Chinese Vietnamese are often referred to as "Vietnamese" and can be mistaken for ethnic Vietnamese by Chinese from Hong Kong and Taiwan. (ŋwjěʔn in Vietnamese approximated as /wɪn/ in English is the most common Vietnamese family name. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. Interestingly, while ethnic Chinese Vietnamese Americans are seen and also see themselves as overseas Chinese (or huayi) they generally do not classify themselves as Chinese American, nor are they seen as such. Paradoxically, however, some Chinese Vietnamese may consider themselves more Chinese than Vietnamese which may affect census reporting. The latter is particularly evidenced as some Vietnamese-born Chinese migrants in the United States have reaffirmed their Chinese identity by taking the initiative to changing the Vietnamese spellings of their surnames back to Chinese equivalents.

The population distribution of transplanted Vietnamese Chinese in the United States varies. For instance, many Vietnamese Chinese immigrants tend to reside in communities closer to the ethnic Vietnamese (such as in "Little Saigon" in Orange County, California or San Jose), while others have chosen to intermingle and concentrate with other Chinese diasporas (namely with emigres from Mainland China and Hong Kong) as in San Francisco, Monterey Park, California or New York City, due to comparatively great prospects of opportunities with the latter. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Monterey Park is a city in Los Angeles County California, United States. The City of New York This is mostly dependent on the duration of residence and level of assimilation and interaction of particular Vietnamese-born Chinese with the ethnic Vietnamese in the old country.

Eurasians and Amerasians

Some Vietnamese Americans are racially Eurasians—persons of European and Asian descent. In the context of Ethnic origins, Eurasian is a term for people and ethnic groups of mixed European and Asian ancestry These Eurasians are descendants of ethnic Vietnamese and French settlers and soldiers during the French colonial period (1883-1945) or during the First Indochina War (1946-1954). Legal residents and citizens To be French according to the first article of the Constitution is to be a citizen of France regardless of one's origin race or religion ( The First Indochina War (also known as the French Indochina War, the The Anti-French War, the Franco-Vietnamese War, the Franco-Vietminh War,

Amerasians are descendants of an ethnic Vietnamese parent and an American parent, most frequently of White, Black or Hispanic background. In its original meaning an Amerasian is a person born in Asia, to a U The first substantial generation of Amerasian Vietnamese Americans were born to American personnel (primarily military men) during the Vietnam War (1961-1975). The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Many such children were disclaimed by their American parent and, in Vietnam, these fatherless children of foreign men were called con lai, meaning "mixed child", or the pejorative bụi đời, meaning "the dust of life. "[9] Many of these initial generation of Amerasians, as well as their mothers, experienced significant social and institutional discrimination both in Vietnam--where they were subject to denial of basic civil rights like an education, the discrimination worsening following the American withdrawal in 1973--as well as by the United States government, which officially discouraged American military personnel from marrying Vietnamese nationals, and frequently refused claims to US citizenship lodged by Amerasians born in Vietnam whose mothers were not married to their American fathers. ^[13][14][15] Such discrimination was typically even greater for children of Black or Hispanic servicemen than for children of White fathers. ^[16]

Subsequent generations of Amerasians (particularly children born in the United States), as well those Vietnamese-born Amerasians whose American paternity was documented by their parents' marriage prior to birth or by subsequent legitimization, have generally faced a much different, arguably more favorable, outlook. ^[17]

The American Homecoming Act, passed in 1988, helped over 25,000 Amerasians remaining in Southeast Asia to emigrate to the United States. The American Homecoming Act, or Amerasian Homecoming Act, was an Act of Congress that allowed children in Vietnam born of American fathers to Nonetheless, although granted permanent resident status, many have yet been unable to obtain citizenship; and many have expressed feeling a lack of belonging or acceptance in the U. S. , because of differences in culture, language, and citizenship status. ^[18] The Amerasian Naturalization Act of 2005 would have granted automatic citizenship to many of these Amerasians, but the bill died in committee without being passed.

Ethnic Khmer and Cham

Some ethnic Khmer and Cham refugees who were born in Vietnam can also be included in the category of Vietnamese Americans. The Khmer people are the predominant Ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14 The Cham people ( Vietnamese: người Chăm or người Chàm) are an ethnic group in Southeast Asia.

Writing and publishing

Both Vietnamese writers in Vietnam and Vietnamese-American writers have a unique set of challenges they encounter when trying to step out of the shadows of writing and publishing. In Vietnam, few literary writers are endorsed by the state and respected by their literary peers; for artists of all types, particularly literature, Vietnam has a climate of repression and harassment. Writers must find ways to get around these barriers and sometimes when they do, they are severely reprimanded or - more infrequently - jailed for their writing. In the United States, a new generation, often referred to as the "1.5 generation" (those born in Vietnam, but who came to the United States at an early age), of Vietnamese-American writers are figuring out how to portray themselves outside of the experiences of the Vietnam War and "fall of Saigon". Many Vietnamese-American writers are for the first time, stepping away from the topic of war and displacement, to the far more urgent subject of identity, or what it means to have a divided cultural identity.

The Vietnamese-American writing and publishing scene has been steadily growing since the mid/late-1990s and shows no signs of slowing down. In 1997, Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge - considered the first novel written by a Vietnamese-American about the immigrant experience - was published by Viking Press and received rave views for lyrical writing from major newspapers, such as the NY Times, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune and others. Lan Cao (1961 -) is the author of the 1997 novel Monkey Bridge and is a professor of law at the College of William and Mary. In the semi-autobiographical novel, a young girl and her mother leave Vietnam after the war, bound for America, and once settled in, have to deal with issues that typify the immigrant experience. Many similarly themed novels and memoirs have followed as the 1. 5 generation has come of age and begun to articulate their identity as both Vietnamese and American, a (sometimes successful) fusion of Eastern traditions in a Western society, and the confusion that resulted from growing up Vietnamese in American culture.

In the United States, Vietnamese-American writers have the freedom to explore both negative and positive aspects of their cultural and societal experiences. Only recently, though, has the 1. 5 generation, who has the advantage of being raised with the English language, really starting to develop a literary scene and any type of movement. The first generation Vietnamese-Americans had the disadvantages of not knowing English and needing to find work to support themselves and/or their families. Not only do Vietnamese-Americans have the freedom to explore these issues, but people in American society are increasingly interested in those issues as well, as evidenced by the success of Monique Truong’s novel Book of Salt.

Other recent notables books include Quang X. Pham's acclaimed father-son memoir "A Sense of Duty," Andrew Lam's PEN Award-winning "Perfume Dreams", Andrew Pham's Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize winner "Catfish and Mandala", and Aimee Phan's debut collection of short stories "We Should Never Meet. Quang X Pham, a Vietnamese American, was born in 1964, in Saigon, South Vietnam. Andrew Lam (born 1964 is a Vietnamese American writer He was born South Vietnam. Aimee Phan is an Vietnamese-American author She was born and raised in Orange County, California. "

If the literary scene in the United States has been a bit fragmented, there seems to be signs of it unifying and strengthening as more novels, short stories, and poetry are published every year. And Vietnamese-Americans are being recognized, apart from ethnicity, for solid literary writing that depicts the outsider experience, allowing people of all ages, ethnicities, and other cultural divides, to connect with one another and with the written word.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} 2006 American Community Survey: Selected Population Profile in the United States. United States Census Bureau. The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title) is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census
2. ^ Alicia J. Campi. From Refugees to Americans: Thirty Years of Vietnamese Immigration to the United States. Retrieved on 2007-03-25. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6.
3. ^ Bankston, Carl L. III. 2000. "Vietnamese American Catholicism: Transplanted and Flourishing. " U. S. Catholic Historian 18 (1): 36-53
4. ^ My-Thuan Tran and Christian Berthelsen. "Leaning left in Little Saigon", Los Angeles Times, 2008-02-29. The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily Newspaper published in Los Angeles California and distributed 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Leap years Although the modern calendar counts a year as 365 days a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours Retrieved on 2008-03-03. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1284 - Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into England 1575 - Indian  
5. ^ OC Blog: Post-Election Spinning.
6. ^ Stephanie Ebbert. "Asian-Americans step up to ballot box", The Boston Globe, April 26, 2005. The Boston Globe (and Boston Sunday Globe) is the most widely circulated daily Newspaper in Boston and in New England, Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Retrieved on 2007-05-25. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors.  
7. ^ San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen
8. ^ "Big Politics in Little Saigon". Madison Phuong Nguyen (born 1971 in Vietnam is an American Politician from California.  
9. ^ Tuan Nguyen[1], North Carolina in 2002 and Tan Nguyen[2], California in 2006, both Republicans
10. ^ Carol Vu. Tuan Nguyen was born in Saigon, South Vietnam in 1963 Tuan tried to escape Vietnam in 1988 but failed and witnessed the death of a close friend in the North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States Tan Duc Nguyen (born 1973 is a two-time candidate for the US House of Representatives in California. "Hong Tran's historic campaign ends", Northwest Asian Weekly, 23 September, 2006.  
11. ^ Resolution Recognizing: The Yellow Flag With Three Red Stripes as The Official Flag of the Vietnamese American
12. ^ ^{a b} Jacob L. Vigdor (May 2008). Measuring Immigrant Assimilation in the United States. Manhattan Institute. The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research is a conservative market-oriented Think tank established in New York City in 1978 by Antony Retrieved on 2008-05-18. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1152 - Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.
13. ^ AmerasianUSA - Amerasian Citizenship Initiative - Issue Background
14. ^ "U.S. Legislation Regarding Amerasians". Amerasian Foundation; website retrieved January 3, 2007.
15. ^ "Lofgren Introduces Citizenship Bill for Children Born in Vietnam to American Servicemen and Vietnamese Women During the Vietnam War". Whitehouse.gov; October 22, 2003.
16. ^ Yoon, Diana H. "The American Response to Amerasian Identity and Rights". Berkeley McNair Research Journal; Winter, 1999 (vol. 7); pp. 71—84.
17. ^ "Vietnamese-Amerasians: Where Do They Belong?" Thanh Tran; December 16, 1999.
18. ^ [3][4]

See also

• List of Vietnamese Americans
• List of U.S. cities with large Vietnamese American populations
• Little Saigon
• Vietnamese people
• Overseas Vietnamese
• Refugees
• Boat people

External links

• Teaching Tolerance - Vietnamese Americans
• Census Data
• Vietnamese American population by city
• Vietnamese-American Protests from 1975-2001 by Nhu-Ngoc T. The following is a list of US cities with large Vietnamese American populations. This article deals exclusively with the Vietnamese communities within the United States of America; for other communities outside Vietnam refer to the Overseas Vietnamese The Vietnamese people (người Việt or vi ''người Kinh'' are an Ethnic group originating from what is now northern Vietnam and southern China. Overseas Vietnamese ( Vietnamese: Việt Kiều, a Sino-Vietnamese word literally translating to "Vietnamese sojourner" refers to Vietnamese According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race Boat people is a term that usually refers to Illegal immigrants or Asylum seekers who emigrate en masse in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made rendering Ong and David S. Meyer
• Vietnamese American Heritage Project at the Smithsonian Institution
• Asian-Nation: Vietnamese American Community by C. The Smithsonian Institution (smɪθsoʊnɪən is an educational and research institute and associated Museum complex administered and funded by the Government of N. Le, Ph. D.
• Southeast Asian Archive
• Vietnamese Studies Internet Resource Center
• 30 years after the fall of Saigon: from The Orange County Register
• Vietnamese American history
• The Experience of Vietnamese Refugee Children in the United States
• Vietnamese who found new lives: from the BBC
• Vietnamese American Council
• National Congress of Vietnamese Americans
• The Vietnamese Population in Louisiana
• US Census 2000 foreign born population by country
• The Biculturation of the Vietnamese Student by Min Zhou and Carl L. The Orange County Register is a daily Newspaper published in Santa Ana, California. Bankston III
• Vietnamese Families, Family Life, and Gender Roles
• Delinquency and Acculturation in a Vietnamese Community