Creating Identity, Defining Culture, and Making History from an Art Exhibit: "Unfinished Story: A Tribute to My Mothers"

Ryan Tom
Week 7
Sec 002
Asa 2

What I took away from the article about Huynh Chau and Prof. Valverde is that the Vietnamese American community is more diverse that it seems to be. To summarize: What began as a anti-communist group of Vietnamese Americans (with newspaper that reflected their anti-communist views) not only has members of its community that are not anti-communist and it is a affected by its extended families that are in Vietnam.

I can really feel the points being made in this article because I feel it is true of all communities. For example, I feel like the most active members of the Asian American community at UC Davis are second generation asian american. When retreats are hosted or events are hosted, workshops are on the second generation asian american experience. When there's talk about home practices or philosophies that are carried from asian culture, it rings more true for some members of the community than others. I've been asked before, "You don't do (xyz thing)?! You're not asian enough). It's like was said in the article. There are members of the community that do not have the same views as the majority of the community, and there's specific norms to being a part of the community. (Being anti-communist in Huynh Chau's situation, and being "asian enough" when I'm 6th generation asian american).

Question: How can we be a whole community when all of our differences aren't recognized? How can we be in solidarity when we're so diverse?

I put a picture of Evan Low because when I watched him speak once he explained how others saw him as just asian and nothing else. He said he would think, "But I speak more Spanish than I do Chinese!" What a cool dude.