Nguyen has also been actively involved in setting the record straight on Biden’s position on accepting Vietnamese refugees into the US. She is so towards the left. “The income gap, the racial gap — that progressives seek to fix that while embracing diversity and humanity is what’s crucial to me,” said Nguyen, 34. “I hope that we can continue this momentum with Pivot because, finally, this is a group where we can claim our voice.”, “I wholeheartedly think to be Vietnamese American is to be political because our existence in the U.S. is the result of politics,” he said. Contact information: Asian Americans for Change P.O. But this is reality. Phan, 25, the demographics expert for the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, co-hosted it with Philip Nguyen, 26, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State. She says that she gets blocked by Facebook at least once a month from posting on her page, but adds: “I’m not afraid to speak up in supporting the president.”. Box 1826 Pascagoula, MS 39568. info@aachange.org (228) 806-1384. It’s to make sure our values are aligned so that there will be benefit for all,” said Kat Phan, a rising young leader within Pivot and a demographics researcher based in San Francisco. Vietnamese American Trump supporters confront Biden supporters at a rally on October 24, 2020 at Eden Center in Falls Church, Virginia, one of the oldest Vietnamese … “And because of his lack of character, lack of compassion, lack of kindness. Volunteers from its election committee created a tool kit that includes a voter guide, voter registration site and an English-Vietnamese glossary with audio for younger immigrants who cannot read Vietnamese “to empower folks who are fired up to have intergenerational conversations but may not know the right words to move hearts and minds.”. And that is just so against how I felt that this country was [when I arrived].”. Viet Stories connects the university and community by partnering with local and national organizations, community leaders and volunteers, and the media. Nguyen was always interested in politics and volunteered for John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008. But Ly stayed behind to raise her three sons. On election day, then beyond, their work will not stop. And at the Sept. 27 virtual Launch Into Action, an extravaganza that pulled in $25,000 to help start a national campaign to win elections, Pivot youths and other supporters did just that. He received a master’s degree in electrical engineering and has run successful tech startups for the past 26 years. Massachusetts state Rep. Tram Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American woman elected to the state Legislature when she defeated a tea party Republican, applauds that focus. What motivates many of them are concerns over income inequality, keeping the Affordable Care Act, climate change and humane immigration laws, as well as solidarity with Black Lives Matter over racial justice issues. You can’t talk negatively about the government and leadership or you end up in the police station.”. AOC [Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] already said that if Biden becomes president, she will push him into making the socialists stronger.”, Nguyen says she became more politically active and vocal during the weeks leading up to the election – especially on Facebook, where she maintains a popular page about Trump. Good luck with that.”, Alex Nguyen, 26, of San Jose said he speaks out for a reason. In the jam-packed months leading to Nov. 3, Pivot expanded in fundraising and visibility. USA! Wounds from the Vietnam war and the fall of Saigon in 1975, when communism took over South Vietnam, are still raw and felt by the community [Valerie Plesch/Al Jazeera]But there is a growing political divide between younger and older generations of Vietnamese Americans. “Look at Kamala Harris. Actually, she is a lot more left than Bernie [Sanders]. In the years since the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese Americans – particularly the older generation – have typically aligned themselves with the Republican party because of the GOP’s fervent anti-communist stance dating back to the war. For the event, organizers recruited community celebrities to amplify their messages on video. Asylum seekers in limbo look to US election with hope and fear, Five years on from the Paris Agreement, we are at a turning point, Activists sound alarm over African biometric ID projects. Mr. Tornado is the remarkable story of the man whose groundbreaking work in research and applied science saved thousands of lives and helped Americans … Americans who tromped, humped, and slogged through Vietnam … An evening of Asian American stories about self-identity, family separation, mental health and stigma. “In this election, everybody has to speak up. Now, they’re very angry at seeing the truth, seeing the underlying issues,” he said, citing Trump’s constant scapegoating of Latino and other underrepresented communities, his anti-Muslim travel ban and other policies that cracked down on immigrants and separated families. “Originally, their parents were likely one-issue voters, drawn to the Republican Party by its outspoken stance against communism and by the likes of Bob Dornan and Ronald Reagan,” said Fred Smoller, associate professor of political science at Chapman University. This fall, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop is celebrating the art of the essay. Vietnamese American Trump supporters confront Biden supporters at a rally on October  24, 2020 at Eden Center in Falls Church, Virginia, one of the oldest Vietnamese food destinations in the Washington, DC area. Pivot is “a natural outgrowth” and a group “that would really matter in a community where voter participation is dynamic and at the forefront,” Smoller continued. Although most of their parents and grandparents have stayed faithful to the Republican Party — largely because of staunch anti-communist feelings dating to the Vietnam War — many of the younger set say they’re focused on domestic issues, not homeland ones. “I owe a lot to this country for being here,” he says after participating in a Vietnamese Americans for Biden rally at Eden Center in Falls Church, Virginia, one of the oldest Vietnamese food destinations in the Washington, DC region and a hub for the vibrant local Vietnamese community. George Menefie, who brought “Tony, an East Indian” into colonial Virginia in the early 1620s as a … Phan was not at all interested in politics until 2016, when he voted for Trump. This is real,” he says. And so, I think most folks don’t know that over 147,000 Vietnamese Americans, since 2014, have access to health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act,” she explains. He believes it is important to make people “feel empowered about their support for Biden” and to understand that it “is not necessarily just a vote against Trump”. He never thinks of how many times he has lied to his people. Khai Nguyen spends time fact-checking misinformation about Joe Biden that spreads within the Vietnamese American community [Valerie Plesch/Al Jazeera]Khai Nguyen is a new member of the Progressive Vietnamese American Organization (PIVOT). “Trump makes a lot of noise about communism. Philip Nguyen, raised in the Antelope Valley, said that during his childhood, there was “little need to question what the candidates stand for — you are ultimately loyal, you always vote Republican.” But as he grew older, he often thought of the resilience that marked the refugee experience as they fled from their homeland starting in 1975, at the end of the Vietnam War. It’s composed of more than 15 ethnic groups, including Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Chinese Americans. And so if Bernie is a progressive socialist, a democratic, whatever the terms you want to use, she is to the left of that, therefore, she’s leaning toward communism,” he says. Once in the United States, the Vietnamese boat people faced the same obstacles as other immigrants, struggling to learn the language and gain an economic foothold. The Asian-American story began with Capt. Asian American voters support Biden at 54% and Trump at 30%, but numbers don't tell full story Biden leads among Asian Americans, and … DNA testing has now made it possible for some to find their parents. Members like him understand that the more physically removed they are from the old-guard, conservative politics of Little Saigon, where Trump maintains popularity, the more protected they are. Why? “In Virginia, we have an election every year. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong Before then, she worked as a civil servant at the US Department of Labor for 12 years and then in immigration and advocacy. “I think Democrats are anti-communist too. Now I don’t feel so alone.’ ”. COVID-19 spikes spill into dozens of L.A. County communities in the San Gabriel Valley, South Bay, the Westside and central L.A. Italy’s staggering virus toll poses uncomfortable questions. When Long Tran, a liberal organizer of Vietnamese descent, hosted a meet-and-greet for Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff in early 2017, he was hoping in part to engage more Asian Americans … Asian American activists, along with other civil rights leaders, are increasingly concerned that minority groups will not be sufficiently represented in the top tier of the Biden administration. Vietnamese are bit characters in American histories of the war, Vietnamese civilians most of all. National data from a survey of Asian Americans released this fall showed that Vietnamese Americans were the only group in which a majority favored President Trump over Joe Biden — 48% versus 39%. Despite initially losing her job because she was the daughter of the former deputy mayor of Saigon, Ly managed to find work as a high school teacher. L.A. County coronavirus surges hit upscale suburbs as well as the inner city. Using Library of Congress and US Department of State records, he provided evidence that in fact Biden strongly supported Vietnamese refugees. Ly says she shrugs off such confrontations and accusations of not being part of the Vietnamese community, and that she has been receiving private messages and calls from Vietnamese Americans thanking her for showing that it is OK to support Biden and not feel bad about it. Here, Vietnamese Americans explain who they will be voting for and why. The pandemic means trouble for huge venues that thrive on crowds. How the legacy of the Vietnam War is shaping many Vietnamese Americans’ picks in the upcoming election. Wendy Nicole Duong (Nhu-Nguyen), lawyer, novelist, former law professor, first Vietnamese American appointed to the American judiciary (1992). A sizable population of Vietnamese who were liberal or progressives remained really, really quiet. Unlike many Vietnamese Americans, Nguyen doesn’t believe that the Republican party is the only anti-communist party. Anh Do is a Metro reporter covering Asian American issues and general assignments. The collection focuses on the legacy of refugees and immigrants whose life stories contribute to our understanding of American history and of Vietnamese in the diaspora. And he’s irresponsible.”. During this election, mother and son are helping to organise rallies of Vietnamese-American Biden supporters. Riverside County grand jury indicts father for 8-year-old’s murder and torture. In October, Biden addressed this misconception in an op-ed in a popular Vietnamese-language newspaper. L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has ordered Deputies Miguel Vega and Chris Hernandez to be suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into an unrelated crash. The movies in our guide reflect their experiences, from Korean (Columbus), Chinese (Saving Face), Singaporean (Shirkers), Japanese (To Be Takei), Filipino (The Debut), Vietnamese (Green Dragon), and more. But who doesn’t?”. Mavericks explodes with ‘best waves in 10 years,’ pioneering waterman says. Ly believes that character and compassion are on the ballot this year. She decided to enter politics immediately after Trump’s 2017 inauguration. Swell and conditions align for “amazing day” at iconic Northern California big-wave surf break. Binh discusses the “painful” conflict between older and younger generations of Vietnamese Americans and says there is a Facebook group called “Asian Americans with Republican Parents Support Group” on which some younger people have even described being kicked out of their homes by their parents for disagreeing with their political views. Truong supports Trump and believes the Democratic party and, in particular, Kamala Harris, the Democratic party’s vice presidential candidate, leans too far to the left. And not just in a subtle way, in a very open way. I don’t think Trump is a good candidate. Matthew Truong says he is living the ‘American dream’ [Valerie Plesch/Al Jazeera]Matthew Truong arrived in the US alone as a 12-year-old boat refugee in 1980 with two sets of clothes and two words of English. He remembers a time when community pressure, especially in Orange County’s Little Saigon — the capital of the overseas Vietnamese population — often silenced political dissenters. 32 Essential Asian-American Writers You Need To Be Reading ... is the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of the short story collection The Middleman and Other Stories … “What happens in Vietnam matters. "Crossing the farther shore" by … Kathy Tran at a Vietnamese Americans for Biden rally [Valerie Plesch/Al Jazeera]Kathy Tran was an infant when, in 1980, she fled Vietnam by boat with her parents and arrived in the US. And young people and progressive thinkers are realizing that the things he stands for are not what they stand for.”. An epic about the shattering impact of the Vietnam War on one … The two volunteers, clutching clipboards and political fliers, were on … Amazon.com: The Vietnamese American 1.5 Generation: Stories of War, Revolution, Flight and New Beginnings (Asian American History & Cultu) (9781592135011): Chan, Sucheng: Books She is among the group’s 300 members across 25 states. She says she does not want to think about a Biden-Harris presidency. “[Trump’s] foreign policy damaged American standing in the world, I think that’s important,” she says. She is a Democrat, mother of five, and the first Vietnamese American elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. “I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gotten emails in the last several years from fellow progressives who said, ‘Oh, my God, I didn’t even know you guys existed. The stories of this refugee community – the struggles, achievements, memories – are part of a major undertaking at UC Irvine: the Vietnamese American Oral History Project. [55] J. Peter Pham , United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa, first Vietnamese American with the rank of ambassador. “We can’t talk about the government because they have agents all around your neighbourhood. “I had to activate myself to motivate others.”. Democrats are seeking to take control of the influential chamber, where Republicans currently have a 53-47 majority. Many children were abandoned at the end of the American war in Vietnam in the 1970s. He failed badly on the trade war with China. “I am supporting Biden. The Vietnam War was the first American war in which its troops were fully integrated, a development that was supposed to turn the page on a ghastly history of institutional racism in the military. Nguyen was a leading voice in the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders when Trump enacted the travel ban on a handful of Muslim-majority countries in February 2017, after which he resigned from the presidential advisory committee and began forming what would become Pivot. The older Nguyen accepts his son’s views. “A large part of this has been his rhetoric and anti-communist ‘tough on China’ message that resonates with a conservative community that views communism and Chinese imperialism with great disdain.”. Its members and hundreds of volunteers are actively campaigning for Joe Biden. And it was because of the generosity and the moral leadership that everyday people and political leaders and faith leaders showed that made us feel welcome. His family later joined him in the US. The younger Nguyen, a food industry entrepreneur, is especially troubled about the lasting effects of racism and how Black people continue to be targets. Pivot leaders and volunteers say they’re encouraged when people from the “Republican stronghold generation” grow more open-minded, willing to give the youth a platform to showcase their convictions. Although he respects his elders and said he is grateful for the sacrifices that the first generation endured so their children and grandchildren could live more securely, he strongly believes that a vote “is a decision for the way we want to shape our future.”. He faced a backlash from Trump supporters in the community for writing articles about this issue in Vietnamese-language newspapers. He’s incompetent, immoral. For the past several weeks, Vietnamese Americans have gathered across the US to show their support for Trump, including large groups who travelled in caravans to Washington, DC in October to rally in front of the White House and the Supreme Court. And I think any issue that affects our daily lives – whether it’s healthcare access, public education, the [COVID-19] pandemic – the differences between Joe Biden and Donald Trump are so great,” Tran says. The grassroots Progressive Vietnamese American Organization (PIVOT) was founded against the backdrop of the 2016 presidential election. Public health officials are anxiously tracking the capacity of intensive care units as coronavirus case numbers surge. So, I think that character is very important. “What the current administration stands for is antithetical to that experience,” he said. Italy could soon reclaim a record that nobody wants — the most coronavirus deaths in Europe — and is still trying to figure out how to protect its vulnerable elderly. Fairgrounds, theme parks open drive-through holiday shows to offset lost revenue. He and his father, Tan Nguyen, 63, a veteran of the South Vietnamese army and survivor of a communist reeducation camp, have been talking about what happened in the 2016 presidential race and the huge stakes facing the electorate this November. “One of the things that really ignites my posture towards President Trump is that he has a deep belief in the higher being,” he says. “I think Trump probably understands the ‘outside the Beltway’ attitude, he’s been on the outside,” he adds. The homeowner in Duluth, Georgia, opened her screen door and softly said, "I'm not good at English." 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