Kou Yang: Celebrating contributions of Indochinese refugees

Today is the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. It’s a good time to note a few of the positive developments of the former Indochinese refugees and their American-born offspring.

About 2.7 million Indochina refugees and their American-born offspring now call the United States home. Unlike European immigrants and post-1965 Asian immigrants, Indochinese refugees came to the USA from war-torn countries – refugees unprepared to adapt to life in the USA, the world’s most developed nation. As a result, most initially struggled.

Through resilience and perseverance, many refugees have had remarkable success. In California, there are Vietnamese American commercial districts known as “Little Saigon” or “Vietnamese Business District” in San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento and, more importantly, Westminster – the first and largest “Little Saigon.” There are also “Little Saigons” in New Orleans, New York and Seattle, to name a few. Thousands of businesses are owned and operated by Vietnamese Americans, and what American city doesn’t have at least one pho restaurant?

In California, Cambodian doughnut shops are found throughout the state, and Long Beach has a new Cambodia Town. Former refugees revived once crime-infested areas of Long Beach and Anaheim.

In 1992, 22 year-old Choua Lee became the first former refugee to be elected to the St. Paul (Minn.) Schools Board of Education. In December 2004, Van Tran became the first former refugee elected to California State Assembly, and a month later, Hubert Vo became the first Vietnamese American to serve in the Texas House of Representatives. The first U.S. representative of Vietnamese descent was Joseph Cao, elected in 2009 in Louisiana.

Jacquelyn Nguyen, a Vietnamese American, is now a U.S. Circuit Court Judge, and Paul C. Lo, a Hmong American, sits as a Merced County Superior Court Judge.

Many former refugees have been appointed to various offices.

Smaller in number are the former refugees who have made it in Hollywood. But there are a few: François Chau is the Cambodian-American actor who played Dr. Pierre Chang in ABC’s “Lost.”

Cambodian American Haing Ngor won an Oscar for “The Killing Fields.” He was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1996.

Dustin Nguyen is a Vietnamese American actor, director, writer and martial artist best known for his roles as Harry Truman Ioki on “21 Jump Street“ and as Johnny Loh on “V.I.P.”

Child actor Jonathan Ke Quan starred in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies.”

Brenda Song is a Disney actress/teen star of Hmong descent more commonly known as “Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior.”

Thavisouk Phrasavath is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning director best known for his film “The Betrayal (Nerakhoun).”

Thousands of young Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian and Vietnamese Americans have served in the armed forces, and many have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Thai Vue, 22, a Hmong American, was killed in action in Iraq in 2004. Kham Xiong, a Hmong American, was one of the 13 American soldiers killed in Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 by a psychiatrist. John Douangdara, a Lao American and dog handler for the elite SEAL Team Six, was killed in Afghanistan in 2011 when his Chinook helicopter was shot down.

Several more have died, and many more continue to serve with distinction.

Viet Xuan Luong is a brigadier general, the first Vietnamese American to command a brigade. Le Ba Hung is first Vietnamese American Navy captain, in command of the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer. Elizabeth Pham became the first Vietnamese American woman to pilot an F-18 fighter jet.

Eugene H. Trinh is a NASA astronaut and the first Vietnamese American to travel into outer space.

All of these people have made valuable contributions to their nation – America. Many others, unfortunately, continue to struggle with a lack of educational attainment, disparity in health outcomes, high unemployment and poverty.

This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 12:41 PM with the headline "Kou Yang: Celebrating contributions of Indochinese refugees."