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Big Politics in Little Saigon
The scandal surrounding Vietnamese-American congressional candidate Tan
Nguyen and a scare letter mailed to Latino immigrants has placed Little
Saigon in the middle of a political storm -- but that may be the price
of entering American politics.
By Andrew Lam, New America Media
Oct 23, 2006 - In Feb of 1999, the media spotlight fell upon Little
Saigon in Orange County, Calif., because of a little poster. When a
Vietnamese-American named Truong Tran put up Ho Chi Minh's image in his
video store, the community reacted with rage. For 53 days, thousands
gathered in front of Tran's business waving the South Vietnamese flag,
denouncing communism, creating traffic jams and making headlines
nationwide.
When I asked filmmaker Robert Winn why he explored the issue in his
documentary "Saigon, USA," he said, "It's the first time in U.S. history
that more than 10,000 Asians gathered to carry out public protests. I
was simply floored by what I saw."
Now, in the run-up to November's congressional elections, Little Saigon
is once again making headlines, this time because of a little flier --
or, more accurately, 14,000 of them. The fliers were sent from the
office of Tan Nguyen, the Republican challenger to Democratic
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, to Hispanic voters in Orange County. If
these potential voters were immigrants, the fliers warned in Spanish,
they should not vote, or else they could face arrest or deportation.
Nguyen's office was raided last week by the California Department of
Justice, and Little Saigon reacted with shame.
But the community also worried that the scandal might damage
Vietnamese-American political power, asking if one rotten apple could
spoil the whole basket.
A few decades ago, the community's aspirations were quite modest: if
Vietnamese gathered in large numbers on the sidewalk in front of city
hall and waved their flags and banners, perhaps the TV camera would
relay their anti-communist passions to the rest of the country. Little
Saigon was as far from the corridors of power as communist Vietnam was
from becoming a multiparty democracy. It relied on rallies and loud
protests to make its voice heard.
These days, much has changed. Even as the mailer scandal unfolds, the
community takes pride in the fact that Tan Nguyen is but one of 15
Vietnamese-Americans running for public office in California this
November. That's an unprecedented number for a three-decade-old
community whose history was defined by its initial emigration to America
as refugees at the end of the Vietnam War.
That apple basket, as it were, is crowded with young, talented
Vietnamese-Americans today. There's that trail-blazer Madison Nguyen
who, at 30, won re-election to San Jose's city council. John Quoc Duong,
33, a former presidential appointee in the Bush administration, is now
running for mayor of Irvine. And there's Van Tran, 41, a California
assemblyman, another trailblazer seeking re-election this November.
Many are politically savvy. They know how to fund-raise and build
coalitions. They do not need to rely on intimidation and fraud in order
to win elections.
Vietnamese-Americans are a quickly emerging force in California
politics. While more are registering to vote, others have become
fabulously wealthy, have their own foundations and are contributing to
their favorite political causes. It's a community that has moved from an
initial survival stage to a sophisticated and expressive one.
Vietnamese-Americans no longer perceive themselves as being at the
receiving end of the political process in California or in the country.
Instead, they are increasingly an important player.
"We are becoming like the Cubans in Miami," my father told me with pride
on the phone recently as we talked about Little Saigon and politics.
Cubans also fled from a communist country, and built a dynamic and
influential community in Florida. They've proven themselves to be
powerful lobbyists. "Tan Nguyen," he said, "is a mere setback."
My father lives in San Jose, or what I often called Little Saigon II,
where nearly 10 percent of the population is Vietnamese. Each year local
politicians -- from city councilmen to mayor -- all showed up to the San
Jose fairgrounds where Vietnamese celebrate Tet, and some even dressed
up in Vietnamese traditional ao dai dresses, looking for votes.
Recently, a Vietnamese weekly paper called Cali Weekly reported on the
subject of Little Saigon and American election. A picture on its front
page showed Vietnamese gathering in large numbers on Bolsa Avenue. But
they were not protesting. They came out to listen to candidates speak
and to encouraged others to vote.
A few were holding up signs. One said, "Our voice is our vote." My
favorite, however, is the one borrowed from the immigration rights
movement last summer. It said, "Today we rally, tomorrow we vote."
Indeed, Vietnamese-Americans no longer have to shout on the sidewalk in
order to be heard. But as the case of Tan Nguyen shows, Little Saigon
can now find itself in the eye of a political storm.
Other Readings of Interest @ AAV
Andrew Lam is a NAM editor and author of "Perfume Dreams:
Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" (Heyday Books, 2005), which
recently won a PEN/Beyond Margins Award. |
