They could save their brother's life... if the U.S. would let them in the country.

Tu Le needs a bone marrow donor. His brothers in Vietnam are perfect matches, but their visas were denied.



Two Vietnamese brothers who petitioned to travel to the United States to donate bone marrow to their dying brother in San Jose were denied temporary visas by the U.S. government.

Tu Le is suffering form Myelodysplastic syndrome, an aggressive form of blood cancer. He is dying. Le is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant to survive. His brothers are both matches. A perfect 100% genetic match. But they have been denied temporary visas by the U.S. government.

Le's brothers, Lam Le and Hiep Nguyen, applied for B-2 tourist visas at the end of May, citing a medical emergency. According the family, they were denied entry on June 3. These men have what is necessary to save their brother's life, and the United States government is like... nope.

More here: Vietnamese men denied visas for life-saving transplant for brother in San Jose

Sign this petition to protect our families and communities

Sign on against amendments to the current U.S.-Vietnam repatriation agreement.


Vietnamese American community members protest in Little Saigon. (Los Angeles Times)
You may have heard that the Trump administration, in its ongoing aggression against immigrants, is resuming its efforts to deport thousands of protected Vietnamese refugees who have lived in the United States for decades -- many of them having fled the country during the Vietnam War.

The community is watching. A coalition of Vietnamese community members, and local, state and national immigrant, civil rights and human rights organizations are urging folks to speak out, sign this petition and let the Department of Homeland Security and Vietnam know the community is watching.

SIGN-ON AGAINST AMENDMENTS TO US-VIETNAM REPATRIATION AGREEMENT 2008

The petition demands that the protections afforded to Vietnamese immigrants under the current U.S.-Vietnam repatriation agreement be maintained, established in 2008, and oppose any amendments that further threaten to tear apart families and upend communities.

The petition has further information (also translated in Vietnamese):

Trump wants to deport Vietnamese refugees

The administration is resuming efforts to deport certain protected Vietnamese immigrants.


Trump speaks in Hanoi in 2017. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)
Sooner or later, they will come for you, too. In its ongoing assault on immigrants, the Trump administration is reportedly resuming its efforts to deport certain protected Vietnamese immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades -- many of them having fled the country during the Vietnam War.

Basically, the administration has now decided that Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in the country before the 1995 establishment of diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam are subject to standard immigration law -- meaning they are all eligible for deportation.

From The Atlantic:

Casting Call: 'This Is Us' needs a cute Vietnamese kid

NBC drama seeks 5-10 year old boy for recurring role.



Know a Vietnamese kid who wants to be an actor? This Is Us is looking for a young Vietnamese actor, 5 to 10 years old, for recurring role on the upcoming season of the hit NBC drama.

The little boy who will play the role of "Lanh" must be "adorable," able to speak conversational/fluent Vietnamese, and live in Los Angeles or the surrounding area. This is a recurring co-star role.

Here's the casting call that's getting passed around:

Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants targeted for deportation

"We can't stay silent."


Kim Nak Chhoeun, 42, came to the U.S. as a refugee when he was 6 years old.
From the Los Angeles Times: Most associate Trump's rhetoric about deportations with Latinos, given his vows to build a border wall, his assertions that Mexican immigrants are "rapists" and drug dealers, and his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for immigrants brought to this country illegally as children, most of whom are Latino.

But immigration activists say the roundups of people of Cambodian and Vietnamese descent are unprecedented and have sparked anxiety in Asian immigrant communities.

"People may think it's just Latinos being threatened when it comes to deportations. But there are all sorts of immigrants affected, and we can't stay silent," said Laboni Hoq, litigation director for the Los Angeles chapter of the civil rights organization Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

"This is a political issue. The administration is cracking down to deliver on campaign promises, and they are going community by community to make their actions known."

More here: As more Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants are targeted for deportation, advocates say they 'can't stay silent'

This Dy Nguyen and his baby girl.

Guest Post by Thi Bui



This is Dy Nguyen and his baby girl. Like me, Dy was three years old when his mother packed him into a boat to escape Viet Nam, risking everything to seek out safety and freedom.

A victim of political persecution, Dy's mother had been trying to escape since the fall of South Viet Nam. After three failed attempts, Dy's mother made it to Malaysia with her husband and their two boys. But unlike my family, who were resettled after a few months, they were left in the refugee camp for seven years. The camp eventually shut down and they were sent back to Viet Nam along with the other abandoned refugees. By then, Dy was ten years old.

Viet Nam and the U.S. negotiated a program called Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees, and through a complicated screening process, Dy's family was finally allowed to come to the U.S. when he was twelve. The next years of his life were marked by his parents' separation, moving between states, and getting into trouble. In his early twenties, he was convicted for theft by receiving stolen property, lost his green card, and served a five-year sentence. In prison, Dy began to reform. He studied and earned his GED. He found strength and healing in his spiritual faith. Since his release, Dy has been an active member of his church, where he serves as a youth leader and uses his past mistakes to steer those he mentors towards a better path.

Meanwhile, ICE keeps trying to deport him.

How to Make Bun Bo Hue

Mrs. Nguyen teaches you the secrets of spicy lemongrass beef noodle soup.



Awwwwww yeah. Mrs. Nguyen back with a brand new cooking lesson. The viral hit YouTube cooking show Cooking With Mrs. Nguyen recently dropped her first video in ten months, coming at you with a savory, steamy tutorial on how to make bun bo hue. Yum. The process is a little long a tricky, but with Mrs. Nguyen's help, you'll be cooking up some of that spicy lemongrass beef noodle soup in no time.

Take it away, Mrs. Nguyen:

That band Viet Cong says they're changing their crappy name

"We are not here to cause pain or remind people of atrocities of the past."



About damn time. After protests, petitions, canceled shows and many, many angry conversations, the band of four Canadian white dudes who make music as "Viet Cong" have announced they are changing their name.

Viet Cong Are Changing Their Name

The Calgary-based post-punk band has operating for several years under the shitty band name Viet Cong. Despite hearing from members of the Vietnamese community over the painful historical connotations of the name, and getting several shows canceled over the controversy, the band had refused to change the name.

"It's just a band name. It's just what we called ourselves," frontman Matt Flegel said in an interview.

At some point, I guess they realized it wasn't "just a band name." Over the weekend, the band released a statement explaining that after many "valuable conversations with the members of the Vietnamese community" they have decided to change the name of the band.

Meet the four white dudes who call themselves "Viet Cong"

Oberlin College cancels show over Canadian band's controversial name.



File under shitty band names. Meet the Calgary-based post-punk band that calls itself Viet Cong. A concert promoter recently canceled a show at Oberlin College because of controversy over the band's name.

Viet Cong Show Canceled Due to "Offensive" Band Name

Okay, bros. Of all the ridiculous things you could call yourself, you picked "Viet Cong." Where did you come up with that name? Why? Surely, you had to know that members of the Vietnamese community would it offensive.

"It's just a band name. It's just what we called ourselves," frontman Matt Flegel says in an interview.

In another interview, Flegel explains further, "That comes from our drummer, and from us being teenagers and watching movies. The Viet Cong were always the bad asses in movies." This might be the dumbest reason behind a band name ever. Too many teenage viewings of Full Metal Jacket.

Fund This: I Am Vietnamese: The Anthology

Book collection explores stories from the Vietnamese American experience


The I Am Vietnamese project, edited by Huy Pham, is a 300-page anthology collecting writing by over sixty authors from the Vietnamese diaspora, including Madeline Truong, Andrew Pham, Andrew Lam, and MasterChef winner Christine Ha. The stories cover a wide range of experiences, from quirky parents to cultural confusion, abuse, bi-cultural marriage, and sexuality.

I Am Vietnamese is available as a free e-book download. They're also currently raising funds through Kickstarter in support of the print version of the book. Here's a video with more information about the project:

Vulgar Vietnamese phrase gets past the DMV

Not-so-nice custom license plate spotted in San Jose



Every month, the Department of Motor Vehicles gets thousands of applications for custom license plates. There are invariably always applications from drivers who must explain the meaning of a phrase to the DMV, who do their best to weed out references to sex, drugs and/or gang-related terms. This is somebody's job.

It appears that one driver managed to slip one past the DMV's rigid approval process. In San Jose, a car has been spotted reportedly sporting "one of the foulest, most vulgar phrases in the Vietnamese language."

Vulgar San Jose License Plate Overlooked By DMV’s Rigid Research Process

A car with the offending license plate, spelling out the Vietnamese translation of "F*ck Your Mother," has been seen driving around San Jose, which is home to 130,000 Vietnamese people. The plate has caught enough attention to generate several complaints with the DMV.

Banh Shop to change red star logo

Vietnamese American community complained the design was too reminiscent of the Communist red star



Well, that was quick. Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell and KFC, has announced that it will change the logo of its recently launched bánh mì concept in Dallas, following complaints from the Vietnamese American community that the design was too reminiscent of the Communist red star.

Yum Brands will change Dallas Banh Shop's red star logo after complaints

In a letter posted on the Banh Shop Facebook page, Yum Brands Senior Vice President apologized to the Vietnamese community for the design, announcing that the company would change the logo and remove the red star from all materials and signage from the restaurant by the end of the day.

You might want to reconsider that red communist star logo

Taco Bell's parent company opens bánh mì restaurant with the worst logo possible. So much fail it hurts.



File under awful marketing... Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell and KFC, recently launched a new bánh mì concept in Dallas called Banh Shop. Which is... neat? Interesting? Inevitable? I do love me some bánh mì, but the people behind Taco Bell better make one hell of a sandwich to get me to abandon my favorite bánh mì joint. But who knows? Maybe it tastes okay. That's not the problem.

Taco Bell's Parent Company Opens a Bánh Mì Shop...with Communist Star in Logo

Somewhere along the way, the minds behind Banh Shop designed the restaurant's logo with the stupidest choice possible: a Communist star. The five-pointed red star is a widely-recognized symbol for communism -- and a sure-fire way to get thousands of Vietnamese Americans really, really angry.

Fund This: They Call Us Viet Kieu

A 28-page illustrated book about a trip to Vietnam that transformed an artist and her family



Minnie Phan is a Bay Area artist in her final year of art school, currently working on a senior thesis project about her family and the Vietnamese American community, based on her own experiences. They Call Us Viet Kieu is a 28-page illustrated book about a trip to Vietnam that transformed Minnie and her family.

She recently launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund the printing of the book. Thanks to generous funders, she's already blown way past her initial goal, plus several stretch goals allowing her to print copies of the book in both English and Vietnamese. The book is definitely getting published, and it looks great.

The campaign is in its final days, and if the project reaches its next goal, she'll be able to print a thousand English copies to send to libraries, universities and community centers across the country. Here's some more information on the project:

Did you know that one in five Vietnamese Americans lacks health insurance coverage?

White House hosting Vietnamese in-language Google Hangout on November 6, 3:00-4:00pm EST

In an effort to answer questions and spread the word about what the new Health Insurance Marketplace means for members of the AAPI community, particularly those with limited English proficiency, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is hosting a series of in-language Google Hangouts.

The next session will be held in Vietnamese, happening Wednesday, November 6 from 3:00 to 4:00pm. During the Hangout, there will be a live question-and-answer period with Vietnamese-speaking representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They'll respond to your questions and provide information on how to obtain health care coverage through the new Marketplace.

Here's some more info on the next Hangout: