I had mixed feelings about the content of the story. Here's why:
The Good
...Whoever prevails will be Orange County's first Vietnamese American supervisor, demonstrating the emergence of Vietnamese political power. --LaTimes
The main story was about how many Vietnamese refugees used to be distrustful of politics because of their experiences in Vietnam, but how that's starting to change. It's great that Vietnamese Americans are realizing that their vote matters and are even running for office. Hooray for democracy and civic participation.
The Bad
Most Vietnamese vote Republican for reasons ranging from anti-communism to anti-abortion sentiment. "Just as Cubans are the most strongly Republican Latino community, the Vietnamese are the most strongly Republican Asian Community," Pitney said (a political science professor).
Ok, not the worst thing in the world. I once was quoted in the Daily Bruin as saying that I would rather have a boyfriend who was Republican than apathetic. (Yes, my school newspaper had an article about cross-party dating even before I started dating Alex). So I guess that same sentiment should be extended to people in general. Naturally though, I'll always prefer people to be Democrats. Alas.
And the Ugly
"My family immigrated here the right way — legally — like millions before them over the years," said a campaign mailer from Janet Nguyen. The mailer contrasted a photo of new citizens raising their hands at a swearing-in ceremony with a photo of Latino men walking over a barbed-wire fence. "When it comes to immigration, there is a right way and a wrong way," the flier read.
Here's my actual problem. Democrat or Republican aside, this trend of Vietnamese candidates waving the banner of closed borders and making it the cornerstone of their campaign, makes me uneasy. This is especially true after Tran Nguyen (no relation either) ran against Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and sent fliers to people with Hispanic surnames, telling them that they couldn't vote if they were immigrants. He said he meant illegal immigrants and it was a mistake. Right.
I don't think we should completely open our borders, but I am a proponent for a more comprehensive immigration program because it isn't easy to come in the legal way. I have this hunch that Janet Nguyen's family were able to come to the here because there was this thing called the Vietnam War, which allowed thousands of Vietnamese refugees to come to the US. I could be wrong and her family might have come before then, but even so, that's how most of her base of Vietnamese American voters were able to come here, gain citizenship, and vote for her. I was talking to my dad this morning about this article and he said that if it weren't for the Vietnam war, he would probably be a math professor in Vietnam and my mom would be there still too (and that means I would probably be like 6 inches shorter).
Sometimes I think if Vietnamese American candidates or voters remembered how lucky they were to be accepted into the US during such a horrible time, they would have a little compassion and stop trying to make themselves look like a superior kind of immigrant. And I won't even get started on how this kind of rhetoric just makes Vietnamese people sound racist against Latinos.
Many Vietnamese Americans are great examples of how you can come to the US with next to nothing and fulfill the American Dream by going to school and working hard, and I'm proud of that. But to think that everyone else even has that opportunity to prove themselves is just not right.
No comments:
Post a Comment