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30 Years Later, Immigrants Shed Vietnam War's Burdens
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Early on, Nguyen realized she was different. In a culture that values family background, Amerasians were considered the products of shameful liaisons. Nguyen recalls the taunt from her classmates, con lai -- half-breed.
"I would beat them," she said, her voice rising at the memory. "Boys, I would beat, too. They called me names. How dare they?"
Still, even a determined girl who towered over her classmates -- thanks to her "American" size -- could do only so much in Vietnam.
Shortly after the war, the communist government ordered her family from the seaside city of Vung Tau to the remote highland. Accustomed to city life, the family had to pick coffee beans and pepper on collective farms. Nguyen dropped out of school after the fourth grade and settled for what was expected of her: marriage, children and work.
When news of Amerasians being able to emigrate reached the countryside, Nguyen said she didn't hesitate.
"Older people always said, in America, everything is possible," she remembered. "They said people even had fish in cans."
She lives with her husband and three children in a studio apartment that is cramped but spotless. Canned fish is no longer a novelty -- they've moved onto bigger things: two televisions, a desktop computer and a sport utility vehicle.
Nguyen has changed, too. When Man, her eldest child, was having trouble in school, she sought help from Asian American LEAD. She has worked with caseworkers to learn more about American schools and how she can help her son and daughters.
A couple of years ago, she accompanied a social worker to a conference in San Diego, leaving her husband to care for the children for the first time.
Nguyen said she has no desire to find or meet her American father -- "I don't need him. He left." She only wants his citizenship.
She has struggled to learn English and fears that she cannot pass the citizenship test.
U.S. law usually allows citizenship for children born overseas to Americans, but Amerasians don't qualify. A bill in Congress that would have granted that right to Amerasians living here died last year in committee.
