Lonnie Fitch March 30, 2013 Charles Dickinson Racial and Ethnic Relations I will be the first to say

that when standing in line at the grocery store, my patience always wears thin when having to wait for the immigrant to pay for the groceries. I never stopped to think about how the person arrived in the states but more importantly why they decided to come to the states. Immigrants choose to come to a new life, whereas refugees are forced to flee-often for their lives ( inq.pdx.edu, 2013). Prior to 1975 Vietnamese-Americans didnt have much of a history in America. The few Vietnamese that were here were mostly housewives and children of soldiers of the Vietnam War. Shortly after the Second World War, America decided to fight communism anywhere in the world. Vietnam was one of these places. America wanted to bring freedom to Vietnam so they sided with the south. The war ended in April of 1975 with the North overtaking the South. The operation was put into effect by secret code. Remaining citizens, refugees, and officials were to stand by until the code was released. "White Christmas" was the code, which was broadcast on the morning of April 29th. Refugees and Americans then "hightailed" it to designated landing zones (u-s-history.com, 2013). As proven with the current state of immigration in our country Americans have had a hard time with people entering into the country. For this reason the government created the Refugee Act of 1975. Congress passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975, which permitted refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam to enter the country and provided $455 million for resettlement (immigration-online.org, 2013).

Its hard for me to imagine having to leave everything that I own as well as family and friends. The only consolation would be, knowing that I am going to a place where I might have a chance of making a living but more importantly keeping my family safe. The Vietnamese that left after the Vietnam War had to leave everything. They had to forget about every going to back to a country that was their place of birth. After leaving the country of their origin, they had to come to a country that doesnt have the best history of welcoming visitors and expected to learn the customs. Often, I have heard people talking about how the refugees have all the breaks: They get all the tax incentives, We have to pay for them, Why do they get all the jobs etc and where I have heard some conversations from refugees about how to make the most money from the stipend from the government gives them, I still have to think about what they left behind. Persistent sub-cultures are cultures that continue against the mainstream. Even though America is pluralistic we still expect others to abide by our collective standard. We have to Americanize others so they can live within our borders. The Refugee Assistance Act not only brought Vietnamese into our country but once they arrived they were assigned a sponsor to help them acclimate to America. The goal of the governments disbursement policy was not to overburden a particular citys social resources and to assimilate the Vietnamese into mainstream society as quickly as possible (ailf.org, 2013). Vietnamese-Americans came here after a war and like so many others they were taught the American way, but thankfully they have not forgotten their culture. Vietnamese Americans have adapted to American culture while keeping their traditions and religious values intact. Their value system includes high educational expectations and strong commitment to family ties (ailf.org, 2013).

References 25th, A., 1975., city, a. t., Tri, Q., Hue., Nang, D., et al. (n.d.). Fall of Saigon. United States American History. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://www.u-shistory.com/pages/h1880.html Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975 - American immigration. (n.d.). Immigration online. Retrieved March 30, 2013, from http://immigration-online.org/607indochina-migration-and-refugee-assistance-act-of-1975.html The History of Vietnamese Immigration . (n.d.). The American Immigration Law Foundation. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from www.ailf.org/awards/benefit2005/vietnamese_essay.shtml people, t. o. (n.d.). inq: Journal. inq. Retrieved March 30, 2013, from http://www.inq.pdx.edu/journal/article14.html