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Vietnamese-American Issues

Hello Mr. Tran,

I am covering an 'emergency assignment' --due tomorrow afternoon-- related with today's challenges of being second generation Vietnamese American and I would like to have your comments / opinions or experiences in order to better picture the story.

Hello M.S.,

The issues confronting second generation Vietnamese-Americans are vast and complicated. At the core of the problem is the issue of self-identity: whether to embrace their ethnic identity, e.g. their Vietnamese cultural background, or to reject it and think of themselves as Americans. Regardless of which decision they make, which is often unconscious to most of them, I think it is unavoidable that they have to come to terms with their dual cultural identities, which means they have to accept the fact that they are both Vietnamese and American.

Vietnamese-Americans can never become Americans because the United States is inherently a racist and eurocentric country. The notion of what makes an American is still predominantly "white," and it is perpetuated by Hollywood propaganda television programs and films through out the world.

Sincerely,

Tuan Tran