The Boat People   The Refugees

The vast majority of Vietnamese came to the United States since 1975. The're about 20,000 immigradted to the United States as wives and children of American servicemen during the Vietnamese war from 1965-1975.

Viet namese Americans eeem to be thriving. Vietnamese stores line the neighborhood streets, and local newspapers in Vietnamese and English advertise community celebrations. But a few blocks from America's largest Vietnamese shopping mall, many Vietnamese failies live in poverty.

The story of the Vietnamese in America is a story of both great success and continuing struggle. it is still a new story that is only beginning to unfold. Unlike other immigrants who have been here for generations, the Vietnamese have been in America for sixteen year or less. The dramatic stories of there escape from Vietnam are better known than what has happened to them since they arrived here. But the living history of the Vietnamese in America is also dramatic, full of contrasts and rapid changes.

 

Family Values

Vietnamese Americans share other basic values and traditions which make them distinct in America. The family rather than the individual is considered the center of a person'[s life, and family interest comes first before self interest. it was common in Vietnamese to live together in extended families of tree generations or mor. This tradition has been hard to maintain in America, but most Vietnaemese households are still large by America standards.

Children are expected to be obedient, as in the Vietnamese proverb,"Children sit where their parents place them." Young people are supposed to show respect for their elders, for example, waiting for the oldest person to sit down before eating dinner and serving them durning the meal. In vietnam, parents usually picked wives for their son. Like many customs of Vietnamese faily life, this practice has broken down in America. Increasing numbers of Vietnamese youth are taking up dating, American style, to the great dismany of their parents.

Changes in family life are one of the greates tensions in the Vietnamese American community today. in traditional Vietnam, most women had very little education and were expected to be homemakers who obeyed their parents, husbands, and older sons. During the war, many women were forced to take jobs to support their families. This situation has continued in America, tipping the old balance of power between wives and their husbands, who often have trouble finding good jobs themselves. The Vietnamese American divorce rate and the number of households headed by one parent are on the rise. The elderly generally speak no English and cannot drive; they complain of feeling isolated, afraid, and too dependent on their children. Parents often fell cut off by thire children, who do not obey them here as they would have in Vietnam. Teenagers who prefer hamburgers to egg rolls and seem to blend easily into American society struggle with the seem to blednd easily into American society struggle with the seem to blend easily into American society struggle with the strict rules set by their parents. The stress of getting settled in America has thus divided both the sexes and the generation among the Vietnamese.