Entry 7

Sean Guntvedt
A02

            Throughout the duration of this class, students have learned that the Vietnam War had several grave repercussions on Vietnamese citizens living in the states. The Good Guys! Hostage Crisis is one such event that exemplifies such a statement. On April 4, 1991, Loi Khac Nguyen, Pham Khac Nguyen, and Long Khac Nguyen, and Cuong Tran raided the electronic store in Sacramento taking several customers hostage, only promising to release them if certain demands were fulfilled: bullet-proof vests, 1000-year-old ginseng roots, and a military helicopter. The four young adults, if they acquired these items, were determined to fly out and avenge their fallen brothers across the seas. Though at first many might argue that such an act was born out of radical Vietnamese patriotism, many argue that such is not the case. Rather, the gang’s motive was born out of a fondness for violent Hong-Kong gangster films and the frustration from dropping out of school and being unemployed.

            The important message to acknowledge while reading this article is not attribute the motive of the hostage situation to these individuals’ dissatisfaction of the war’s end but, instead, the difficulties that Southeast Asian Americans faced while living in America. These young men were not raised in a house with a white picket fence. In fact, the Nguyen’s lived in a refuge camp first before being moved to a shoddy apartment in Sacramento. Certainly, the war might have spurred ill emotions into several Vietnamese immigrants in the states, but it really just amplified these individuals’ discontent of their current living conditions and the government’s apathy toward remedying it.

Questions: What are some other events following the Vietnam War that illustrate Southeast Asian discontent of their current living conditions in the states?