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THE SPONTANEOUS INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT
THE SPONTANEOUS INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT
In 1979, Darrel Montero, a professor of sociology at Arizona State University, attempted to forecast the future of the Vietnamese immigrant population in the United States with his article “Vietnamese Refugees in America: Toward a Theory of Spontaneous International Migration.” Montero anticipated the “total and complete assimilation of the Vietnamese in America,” citing their higher levels of education and prior socialization with the West that put them ahead of earlier migrant groups from Asia (646). His ambitious hopes for the Vietnamese community originated from his theory of Spontaneous International Migration (SIM), which distinguishes reasons for migration among various Asian immigrant groups.
According to Montero, Vietnamese immigrants under the SIM pattern experienced unique transitional periods that eased assimilation into American culture, such as learning English at refugee camps and receiving personal and financial support from sponsors with roots in the United States. Montero alternatively argued that the voluntary nature of Chinese and Japanese migration (e.g. seeking work, education) caused them to bypass stages that would have advanced their acceptance into the American culture. These groups skipped to organizing ethnic enclaves, or communities, that provided comfort from hostility but also isolation from American society.
While there may be some truth to the SIM pattern, Montero failed to consider this country's tradition of limiting Asian immigration. Seemingly, he charged early Asian immigrant groups with their own rejection from American culture, but history demonstrates that white Americans feared immigrants would take their jobs and transform the racial makeup of the nation. Thus, the United States issued various decisions and policies that would disadvantage the Asian immigrant.
CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT (1882)
CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT (1882)
The Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers for a period of ten years and barred all Chinese immigrants from naturalized citizenship.
1920 ANTI-JAPANESE CRUSADE
1920 ANTI-JAPANESE CRUSADE
In the early twentieth century, Japan established itself as a geopolitical rival in Pacific. Americans feared the Japanese would eventually take over industry in the United States, leading to several popular anti-Japanese campaigns in the media.
U.S. v. BHAGAT SINGH THIND (1923)
U.S. v. BHAGAT SINGH THIND (1923)
With the Thind decision, those of Indian decent were officially ineligible for citizenship. The Court argued that Indians could not merge into the American population as well as immigrants from European nations.
Although Montero overlooks the subjection of earlier Asian immigrant groups, Montero aptly identifies the involuntary nature of assimilation and the artificial advantages Vietnamese refugees experienced compared to other groups, aligning with the modern canon.
THE MODEL POSTWAR IMMIGRANT
THE MODEL POSTWAR IMMIGRANT
Kim Nguyen's “'Without the Luxury of Historical Amnesia': The Model Postwar Immigrant Remembering the Vietnam War Through Anticommunist Protests” offers a potential answer to why Vietnamese immigrants received unprecedented government assistance during immigration and naturalization. Nguyen's article centers the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and protest as lived by Vietnamese American citizens.
In 1979, anti-communist protest condemning support for Ho Chi Minh pervaded Westminster, a predominately Vietnamese city in Southern California. Over 200,000 Vietnamese rallied together to call for the legal rejection of pro-communist speech, disgusted that some people in their community supported the communist regime that displaced them from their homes. Ultimately, the protestors failed to acquire government support. Similarly, those on the opposing side failed to garner social support for communism in the United States.
Postwar Vietnamese American immigrants are positioned as authoritative sources in deciding the history of the Vietnam War. With this authority, they "disavow and scapegoat Vietnam" for their forced migration and cast themselves as “the exile [which] operates within a rhetoric of victimhood" (Nguyen 142). Essentially, Nguyen argues that Vietnamese Americans have outwardly taken on the identity of the powerless voluntarily, but by doing so, they created a Vietnamese American identity that embodies specific American values and practices which justifies American imperialism.
There is an image of agency and power with Vietnamese protest; however, Vietnamese Americans are in reality designed to be a political and social tool to the American empire, intended to reinforce American principles as the model postwar immigrant.
Kim Hong Nguyen, Professor of Gender and Social Justice.
Image from the University of Waterloo
CONNECTION TO "RACIAL TRIANGULATION"
CONNECTION TO "RACIAL TRIANGULATION"
Nguyen’s argument echoes much of what Claire Jean Kim presents in “The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans”, notably what she says about the model minority. Kim claims “Journalists, politicians, and scholars alike have constructed Asian Americans as a model minority whose cultural values of diligence, family solidarity, respect for education, and self-sufficiency have propelled it to notable success” (118). Nguyen and Kim agree that Asian identities have been constructed to satisfy American desires and strengthen American cultural values among minorities in the United States. But Nguyen takes Kim's argument a step further by suggesting ideal models exist among minority subgroups, like immigrants and Asian Americans, and can be used to primarily strengthen international agendas rather than domestic interests.
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