Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde’s “Whose Community is it anyway” explained how the Vietnamese community in San Jose was disappointed, and called Madison a communist for not using “Little Saigon” as the name of a San Jose business district. Unfortunately there were other aspects that also lead to the Vietnamese community truly believing Madison was a communist because she married a Vietnamese International student, and during the time of the wedding the Vietnamese President was visiting America (Valverde).
Although Madison came to the U.S. as an infant and worked very hard to support workers and the Vietnamese community in politics, Madison got lots of complaints in return. Madison helped organize a concert called “Rock and Vote” in order to help Vietnamese people get involved in politics. During her college career she also went to public demonstrations to fight for worker’s rights. Madison really cared about her community (Valverde).
Madison makes a point that Asian Americans were all financially stable and lacking in politics, but she may be wrong. “New Report Charts Dramatic Asian American Population Growth, Electoral Implication" claims, " the Asian American population nationwide now numbers more than 17 million and is poised to influence next year's Presidential election". Although generally only a small percentage of Asian Americans usually vote, the Asian American population is increasing so much that there are going to be many political decisions made by the Asian American community from now on. Also, not all Asian American communities are financially stable. Hmong, Bangladeshi, and Cambodian American are one of the most poor communities in the U.S.
“Transnational Migration and The Globalization” by Michael Peter Smith calls transnational forms of political organization, mobilization, and practice “transnational grassroots politics”. Smith argues that because people are moving out of their nation-state, culture and politics is going to be different from before. Smith mentions that the media is spreading the culture of one nation state to other nation-states, making the characteristics of the nation-states less unique. Smith also makes a point that “borderless people”, or people who do not have one particular nation state they stay in no longer follows the culture of their original nation-state. The “borderless people” are the leaders of a new mixed culture. Many people travel to different countries to find a better job and give their family back home remittances (Smith).
In “Democracy, culture and the politics of gate-keeping in Cambodia” Caroline Hughes talks about the trouble of Cambodians’ unification after the Cold war. The Khmers, or refugees who came back to Cambodia had to unify with the Cambodians. The role of women refugees was to keep their “Khmerness”. Cambodia does not have a very distinct identity because it has had trouble closing its borders in the past. People of Vietnam and Thailand have come to Cambodia to incorporate their culture, language, people, etc. Miscegenation was discouraged because of the seventeenth century Khmer king who married a Vietnamese princess and made Vietnamese more powerful by setting up the customs posts in Mekong delta. This resulted in a mass of Vietnamese coming into Cambodia (Hughes).
Questions:
1.) When the naming of a business district did not end up being “Little Saigon” what did the people of the Vietnamese American community accuse Madison of being?
2.) When Madison ran for city council, what did she promise her ethnic community she would make sure happen if she was elected?
3.) Democracy, culture and the politics of gate-keeping in Cambodia what were the motives of people in Cambodia after the Cold War.
4.) What does “transnational grassroots politics” mean according to Michael Peter Smith?
5.) According to Smith what does “borderless people” mean? What does “borderless people” cause?
Anonymous, . NEW REPORT CHARTS DRAMATIC ASIAN AMERICAN POPULATION GROWTH, ELECTORAL IMPLICATIONS. (2011, November 2). Hmong Times,p. 7. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW). (Document ID: 2516532541).
By Natsumi Moudry
I believe the Vietnamese protesting against Madison Nguyen were too ignorant to change their stubborn opinions. It was not fair due to the fact that they never gave her a chance to reason with them. Madison was only trying to name the district in order to receive more grants and funds. Now that the protestors won, they receive no bonus money for a better district. I would have never thought that the older Vietnamese would be so radical in America.
ReplyDeleteWith the Khmer King marrying out with a Vietnamese woman, this meant an outbreak of Vietnamese in Cambodia. Cambodia is in a struggle to maintain its’ culture and heritage both alive. Reunification is much needed after all the wars they had to endure. A perfect way to keep Cambodia alive is if the Cambodians in America travel constantly like the Vietnamese and make a transnational connection between Cambodia and America. Therefore have money flowing and people educating families or friends in Cambodia.
~ Michael Nguyen
As an individual involved in APALI in 2008, I spent a part of my summer polling the community around Story Rd. and Grand Century Plaza regarding the naming controversy around Little Saigon. The situation was so politicized that when my partner and I attempted to poll store workers or shop owners, many would state that they were not going to make any statements (which I think now, were out of fear of reprisal from the Vietnamese community).
ReplyDeleteI have to say the situation genuinely did embarrass me as a younger generation Vietnamese American. This is not to say that I felt the older generation didn’t have an important point to make, but I did think that their energy could have been channeled much more positively if the issue was in fact one that benefitted the community. The negative press surrounding the Recall attempt and the statistics that mentioned the exorbitant cost of the Recall campaign really created a negative image for the Vietnamese community.
It saddens me that the Vietnamese community can still remain so divided today. It concerns me whether or not the older generation will be able to use the remainder of their lives towards a positive message for the youth. As more of the 2nd generation Vietnamese Americans are growing older, we need to reach out to the older community to learn about our history before it is too late.