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.
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.
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):
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.
Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.
On this episode, we welcome playwright Qui Nguyen, who talks about the small town video store pop culture that defined his Arkansas youth and the true life origins of his acclaimed play Vietgone. We also attempt to make him spill the beans about the super secret material he's been working on for Marvel Studios.
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:
By PIVOT, The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization
PIVOT member, Thu Quach, looks daily at a photograph by Ansel Adams, taken in 1943 at the internment camp in Manzanar. The two children highlighted here are her father-in-law and his sister. (Illustration by Thi Bui)
Today, February 19th is your Day of Remembrance, a day that marks the injustice authorized by Executive Order 9066 when 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to forfeit their homes and belongings, and to live behind barbed wires in internment camps. This day, each year, reminds us of what happens when we, as a nation, let go of our conscience and act out of fear.
For Vietnamese Americans, we have our remembrance day too. April 30, 1975 is the day when Saigon fell and the Viet Nam War ended. Similar to yours, it marks a moment of massive displacement for many of us who left Viet Nam as refugees to eventually resettle in the U.S. and other countries.
In our collective memory, such painful events have often been narrated through tragic and powerful images. For us, it is the images of frightened people climbing walls to escape and of mass exodus from the country. For you, it is the images of huddled masses forced at gunpoint to evacuate their homes and children behind barbed wire. Decades later, to an often disconnected society, these images, shown once a year, may elicit a shameful shake of the head, disbelief, and a sentiment of “how could we have let this happen?” And yet, today, as we face dangerous times under this regime, these casual, commemorative sentiments are simply not enough.
Instead, let us be the kind of Americans who are bonded together not just by our history of displacement, but also, by our shared moral obligation to speak out in the face of injustice, wherever it is found—bans based on religion, the threat of a Muslim registry, and unnecessary wars abroad. For war, as we remember well, both creates and exacerbates the conditions of being a refugee. Let us, together with others who will never forget days such as these, be the voice of conscience. After all, silent sympathy and compassion during those times have led to these painful days of remembrance. Let us stand in solidarity with one another, so that there will not be another day of remembrance like ours. Let us not just shed tears when we see images of the Syrian child lying dead on the beach. For these images are only powerful when they can elicit acts of resistance against the perpetrators.
On your Day of Remembrance, we pledge to stand with you to be the voice of conscience for this nation, and to remind everyone of our shared humanity.
Lane County Commissioner Faye Stewart complains "their culture and their lifestyle didn't mix with ours."
You know what happens when we allow refugees into this country? They'll eat your cats and dogs! Take it from one Oregon politician who claims that Vietnamese refugees who came to the area years ago "harvested" people's pets for food "because their culture and lifestyle didn't mix with ours."
Faye Stewart, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Oregon made the comments while discussing the current Syrian refugee crisis during a GOP candidate forum. He was apparently telling a story about Vietnamese refugees first arriving to the Pacific Northwest in large numbers in the late 1970s and early '80s.
"[W]e took in some refugees," Stewart recalled. "I believe it was some Vietnamese refugees into this state years ago and it created a huge problem because their culture and their lifestyle didn't mix with ours."
Among other things, Stewart claimed that the Vietnamese refugees "went to their natural ways" and ate people's dogs and cats.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Bao Nguyen defeated incumbent Bruce Broadwater by just 15 votes.
The results are in! This week, the Orange County Registrar of Voters certified its vote counting from the November 4 election and made it official: Bao Nguyen is the new mayor of Garden Grove, California.
Nguyen's historic victory makes him Garden Grove's first Vietnamese American mayor, the first Vietnamese American elected mayor of a U.S. city with a popular larger than 100,000.
The 34-year-old organizer, activist and school board trustee defeated incumbent Bruce Broadwater by a more fifteen votes in a highly contested race. So it's no surprise that Broadwater is demanding a recount.
"If I were in his shoes, I'd ask for a recount, too," said Nguyen.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fort Hood's Viet X. Luong receives his brigadier general's stars
Last week at a ceremony at Fort Hood, hundreds gathered as soldier Viet Xuan Luong became the first Vietnamese American to reach the rank of general in the United States Army.
On Wednesday, Luong received his brigadier general's stars from Fort Hood commander Lt. Gen. Mark Milley. Among the hundreds attending the ceremony were Luong's seven sisters, his mother, wife and three children.
Luong was 10 when he came to the United States with his family as refugees from Vietnam in 1975.
A documentary film about the origins and impact of Vietnamese in the 8.7 billion dollar nail industry
Here's an interesting documentary film project that could be worthy of your crowdfunded support... NailedIt: Vietnamese & The Nail Industry is an exploration Vietnamese American culture and history, specifically looking at the impact of the Vietnamese nail salon industry -- a uniquely American story.
In 1975, a chance encounter between 20 Vietnamese refugee women and actress Tippi Hedren triggered the onset of the ubiquitous Vietnamese nail shop. Whaaaat? This documentary tells the story of incredible growth and impact a small community of people have on today's 8 billion dollar nail trade.
Watch this video with filmmaker Adele Pham for more information about the project:
Community members vote to include formerly barred groups in this year's celebration
Victory in Orange County! After prohibiting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from participating in last year's Tet parade, the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California voted this weekend to allow LGBT organizations to march in this year's upcoming festivities.
On Saturday, federation members voted 51-36 to allow LGBT organizations to take part in the 2014 Tet Festival in Westminster, scheduled for February 1. The vote comes after an earlier vote, held last year, barring the organizations from the 2014 festival. The re-vote was scheduled following a meeting between federation leadership and community members last month.
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:
Tony Tran just wanted to see his son graduate from high school.
Over the weekend, Mill Creek High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia held a graduation ceremony -- caps, gowns, pomp and circumstance -- over half a year early. For one student. Seems like only a minor hassle to fulfill a dying father's wish: School grants dying father's wish.
Tony Tran is battling terminal liver cancer. According to doctors, he doesn't have much longer to live, and most likely not long enough to see his son David graduate from his school. With Mill Creek's graduation not scheduled until next May, school administrators made a touching exception for the Tran family:
The annual Vietnamese Interacting as One (VIA-1) Conference is happening this March 15-17 at the University of Iowa. The theme this year is "From Today, For Tomorrow," taking contemporary experiences and applying them to a vision for a better future. This year's keynote is Minh Dang, a graduate student at UC Berkeley and survivor of child abuse and child sex trafficking. Here's more info:
