Modern Viet Kieu [p.4]

 

don’t really know them. I guess I just need to put more time and effort into learning the language.

NHA: Have you encountered prejudice in Viet Nam as a VK? What about overseas? 

Christine: Ninety-five percent of the time I pretend I don’t speak Vietnamese. I get more respect that way. If they know I’m Viet Kieu. I’m treated with resentment. Once I was in Hoi An at a restaurant with a foreign male friend, and the waitress said to me, “Don’t you feel the cold?” which was a way of criticizing my tank top and the fact that I was with a Western guy. Some people assume I’m a taxi girl.

Voughn: Certain Viet Kieu come back here and think they rule the earth just because they speak English, which has generated a negative stereotype. I either get treated really badly here because I’m a VK or so well I don’t deserve it. No matter what happens, I’ve learned to take it with a grain of salt.

Loc: Sure, there is prejudice here. When you try to bargain, the starting price is higher. Sometimes they think I’m a foreigner, which I prefer. But I don’t want to be seen as Viet Kieu. Here [in a Highlands Coffee shop] the staff automatically speaks to me in English, so I go along with it. It’s easier, because then I don’t have to explain myself.

Tho: People know right away we’re VK, so they treat us differently. We don’t know how they’d treat us if we were just regular Vietnamese. I think American VK have given us a bad name—they talk
a lot.

Hoang: I’m treated differently now. On the surface people are kind to VK—they take us out and appear to make friends with us, but we are never sure whether there is something behind it. They invite us to Highlands or places where they can’t normally afford to go, and then expect us to pay. People also make promises they can’t keep, just because saying you’ll do something even if you know you can’t is the path of least resistance.

Landon: I encounter prejudice more here than I do in the U.S. Mostly because I can’t understand what people are saying. People talk behind your back. I see discrimination the most at the English language schools around town. They won’t hire Viet Kieu. They correctly assume that Vietnamese parents won’t accept a Vietnamese face teaching their children English. My university isn’t like that. But the others are. They offered me a Vietnamese wage... There are so many different types of VK, like the really Westernized ones who come back driving a Wave Alpha. Maybe they went overseas for a few years, worked really hard at manual jobs to save money and then came back here to flaunt their wealth. People here are so naive about how easy life is in America. They have no idea. They categorize us, but they can’t tell the difference between us. Unfortunately, I’m treated better when I speak English.

Laurence: Sometimes I get ripped off by xe om drivers and taxis. I know the price, but they often try to overcharge me. I don’t care about the money, but it’s the principle. They seem to be asking, “Why was it you and not me who had a chance to have a better life?” I think some people think we are traitors and say that we left because we didn’t want to fight for our land. I can understand their point of view. But we’re not back here because we want to exploit people. We’re back here to make things better. At home I could make much more money. I’m here because I’m Vietnamese and I want the country to go forward... But not everyone is hard on us. A lot of people encourage me and support my learning the language. They’re curious. When they meet you, it’s always the standard questions: age, family, salary. It makes me so uncomfortable, but you have to answer. I lie, because I don’t want them to think that I think I’m better than them.

Linda: Sometimes people don’t guess that I’m VK. I have a lot of local friends, and I think I act like them. . . I’ve adapted really well. I feel like my local friends are rooting for me when they tell me I have very Vietnamese characteristics: I’m outspoken, I want to take care of everybody and make sure everyone is having a good time. However, trust is a bit of an issue. Sai Gon is a very money-hungry place. For instance, I had just met my friend’s mother when she asked if my parents could sponsor one of her relatives to Australia. That’s not cool. 

Quoc: People from the countryside here are always excited to meet me. But city people spit on us—I can sense it. I used to be sensitive to that, but now I don’t care so much.

Van Linh: I’ve traveled widely in Viet Nam and never felt any racism—quite the opposite—but that may be because I’m not really living in one place and can explain who I am and why I’m here. I grew up in a small French town where I was the only Asian girl. Everyone wanted to protect me. My name was difficult [to pronounce]. I always wanted a French name like Sophie or Isabelle, and it was only as a teenager that I understood my differentness was an advantage. Since then I’ve been attracted to people who were marginal, not normal. Those kind of people know more things, speak other languages and understand other cultures...

NHA: Would you say you identify more with a Western or a Vietnamese perspective on life?

Voughn: Before coming here at 21, I always thought of myself as Australian. I denied my Asianness because I thought it wasn’t cool. But now I’ve realized I’m not a circle or a square. Maybe that makes me star-shaped. It’s hard to date men here because I can’t totally identify with either local or Western men. It’s tough to find someone with a perfect complement of both cultures raised overseas.

Tho: Europeans share a certain mentality. We have a future. Here the majority of people are living day-by-day. They can think only of their tomorrow. I’m between both cultures. It’s easier for me to speak French, but I don’t share their outlook completely either.

Quoc: I identify more with Westerners because of a shared experience. Some might say I’m whitewashed, but I am Vietnamese. You can move a grasshopper to the desert, but he’s still a grasshopper. He’s just learned to adapt to the desert.

Loc: My close friends here are mostly Anglo and Francophone expats. Vietnamese don’t go