Self-Affirmation

Jason Wong
ASA2
Section 2
Week 8

    While reading "Love, Money, Prison, Sin, Revenge", one particular passage caught my eye. In the reading, Andrew Lam mentions that the reason the Vietnamese boys that held American hostages at a store was to be acknowledged. Similarly, in CHI50, we learned about a group known as the pachucos, who were Mexican Americans who were given negative connotation for the violent behaviors. However this was not necessarily the case, as pachucos themselves dressed and lived in a different way as a form of self-affirmation, the idea of making themselves known to the people. Pachucos were part of two groups, Mexicans and Americans, and the idea of blending of cultures influenced their attire and lifestyle. I felt the Good Guys siege was similar to this idea where youths were looking for outlets as a way of self-affirmation. One of the other readings by Andrew Thi also talked about a a Vietnamese refugee that broke the law in various ways in a very violent way. While reading, I never found a reason for the violent behavior outside of simply just wanting to do so. So my question for the weeks readings is, how the violent behaviors, seen by these specific cases, show a sense of self-affirmation or desire to be heard? Why do you think they desire to be noticed?
Following the reading, I thought the communities desired some form of attention because of the American response to the whole situation. Certain generations of Vietnamese refugees go to the US and in effect, sort of lose meaning to their lives.