Americanize

Week 8

Qimin Li

Section 2

                Andrew Lam’s article brings a different perspective to the conflicting emotions of the Vietnamese boat people. When I placed these events told in the article with what I saw during the screening of the Last Days of Vietnam video, the film made it seem like these refugees were grateful for American aid. However, in reality, they were probably crying for their families, their homes and everything that they’ve struggled to build in Vietnam, only for it to be destroyed in the war. This is probably what it meant to be on the “loser” side. Now, this brings us back to how can we connect with our culture in a land where one is shunned for being different? Third generation Asian Americans and other minorities are “Americanized” or “white-washed” in order to fit into the dominant white culture. And when we want to reconnect with our Asian culture, it’s difficult when we learn English instead of Vietnamese or Chinese. This alienates us from our relatives who only speak their native language that it creates this sense of isolation. In a way I feel like we lose a part of ourselves the more we try to fit into the American culture and ignore our Asian side.

My question is, how can we raise more awareness to the struggles many minorities have within themselves when it comes to finding their own identity?