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From: Minh Tran
Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Where can I get some facts on Vietnamese in Westminster, Orange
County? A brief history of Vietnamese in Orange County? And how
Vietnamese got there. This seems to be an obvious reason but it is
not. A friend argues that it was a conspiracy by the US government to
implant them there, which is an unlikely argument. Could it be that it
was a coincidence? Orange County being a short distance from Marine
Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Are there multiple factors?
Minh Huynh Tran
PhD Student
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From: Brody, Jeffrey
Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Vietnamese settled in Orange County for five reasons:
1. Proximity to Camp Pendleton
2. Favorable job climate
3. Weather
4. Churches and civic groups sponsored refugees.
5. Welfare benefits in California at the time were better than most states.
Don't understate that the county was conservative and pro-war and more welcoming
of the refugees than the greater American population.
No conspiracy. Refugees were free to move around the country and this accounted
for the vast secondary migration to Orange County for reasons 2-5.
Jeffrey Brody
Professor of Communications
Asian American Studies Program Council
California State University, Fullerton
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From: Minh Tran
Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 3:35 PM
This seems to be reasonable but why Westminster? San Diego, San
Clemente, Oceanside, Riverside, Irvine, Long Beach, and hundreds of
other cities can be possible center for the Vietnamese. Yet, what
really drew them to Westminster? How did Westminster become the center
of attention?
Of the five reasons above, all of the named cities have the same features.
Minh
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From: David Brown
Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Minh: Why Orange County? Why Westminster? Well, partly for the reasons Jeff Brody suggests, and certainly not the result of a 'conspiracy.' As I recall, many refugees migrated to OC because word spread that everyone else was headed there too. It was an example of the phenomenon that James Surowiecki discusses in his book, The Wisdom of Crowds.
When the first waves of emigrants from Vietnam arrived in 1975, hastily-improvised US Government policy stressed spreading them thinly across the US, to equalize the stress on social welfare networks in various communities and to minimize backlash that was feared might result if large numbers of 'aliens' were concentrated in fewer places. Thousands of churches and synagogues offered sponsorship, many people offered employment, and the Vietnamese were initially scattered far and wide.
Though there was a huge outpouring of good will, the cultural chasm was huge. Not all of the sponsors were altruistic. My brother-in-law's family, for example, ended up in a Wyoming truck stop, working long hours as de facto indentured labor. Other families, isolated, grieving for family members lost or left behind, still with minimal English language skills, just found it difficult to adjust to their 'new homes.' Within a few months, word began to spread of various places where people were finding work, housing was affordable, the weather was better, and especially, where nascent Vietnamese communities were being re-established. In particular, there were favorable reports from Houston, San Jose and especially Orange County. Quietly a mass migration began. In community after community, the isolated Vietnamese families thanked their 'sponsor' families, loaded their stuff into a newly-acquired used car, and set out for places where they could find some comfort among their own kind.
Hope that helps, David
David Brown
VietnamNet Bridge
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From: Peter Kiang
Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 4:49 PM
see Karin Aguilar-San Juan's recent book:
Little Saigons: Staying Vietnamese in America (Paperback)
Product Description
Karin Aguilar-San Juan examines the contradictions of Vietnamese American
community and identity in two emblematic yet different locales: Little
Saigon in suburban Orange County, California (widely described as the
capital of Vietnamese America) and the urban "Vietnamese town" of Fields
Corner in Boston, Massachusetts. Their distinctive qualities challenge
assumptions about identity and space, growth amid globalization, and
processes of Americanization.
With a comparative and race-cognizant approach, Aguilar-San Juan shows how
places like Little Saigon and Fields Corner are sites for the simultaneous
preservation and redefinition of Vietnamese identity. Intervening in debates
about race, ethnicity, multiculturalism, and suburbanization as a form of
assimilation, this work elaborates on the significance of place as an
integral element of community building and its role in defining Vietnamese
American-ness.
Staying Vietnamese, according to Aguilar-San Juan, is not about replicating
life in Viet Nam. Rather, it involves moving toward a state of equilibrium
that, though always in flux, allows refugees, immigrants, and their
U.S.-born offspring to recalibrate their sense of self in order to become
Vietnamese anew in places far from their presumed geographic home.
About the Author
Karin Aguilar-San Juan is associate professor of American studies at
Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Product Details
Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press (August 6, 2009)
> (www.english.vietnamnet.vn <http://www.english.vietnamnet.vn> )
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From: Dennis Berg
Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 11:51 PM
I liked David’s narrative…
I think that Jeff’s list failed in a couple of places…
There were a set of economic conditions – the downsizing in aerospace – that made house in Garden Grove and Westminster available.
The engineers just walked away from their properties and the refugees moved in; often more than a single family….
I also believe that the welfare differential was not a big thing…
The refugees received federal funding if I’m not mistaken which was the same regardless of where they settled…
Also, if one were to look at the location of the former leaders, I think you will find – whether by design or accident – many clustered in orange county…
That accounted for some of the original settling and the resettling that took place with time as david describes..
Places like St. Anselms and Catholic Charities and later VNCOC were very good at refugee resettlement programs
And they drew lots of Vietnamese back to orange county…
So maybe jeff’s list needs rearranged and embellished…
1. Proximity to Camp Pendleton – yes
2. Economic impact on housing market with the collapse of Aerospace…
3. Favorable job climate – not sure this is true except Vietnamese began to hire Vietnamese as their community grew..
But I think at first, the climate was not that good…a quick check of records could answer this…
4. Weather – hum….texas and the south is so much like Vietnam…southern cal weather took some getting used to…
5. Churches and civic groups sponsored refugees… yes
6. Welfare benefits in California at the time were better than most states….NO…
7. presence of leaders from the south in orange county..
A lady names Dr. Son Kim Vo could do a good job speaking to these issues...
***********************************************
Dr. Dennis F. Berg
Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Sociology, CSUF
Fullerton, California USA 92834-6846
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