PLIGHT OF VIETNAMESE FISHERMEN IN THE GULF

News Headlines - Spill spreads anxiety among Vietnamese fishermen : Townhall.com#postComments#postComments#postComments#postComments



The fall of Saigon, Vietnam was on April 30, 1975. When the Communist regime took over, they massacred 3 million South Vietnamese, mostly for siding with the South Vietnamese Democratic government during the war. Some South Vietnamese managed to escape, prior to the fall of Saigon, and many left their families behind, and as refugees came to America. All of Vietnam was war torn, and those who were left behind, had hopes and dreams that some day those who escaped would return for them. Over the past 35 years, that dream came true, many families have been reunited here in the United States. There are large communities of Vietnamese, and Cambodian people in and along the gulf coast of America. They are mostly fisherman, who, are now out of work due to the oil leak disaster. These Asian families endured the devastation of hurricane Katrina along with everyone else living in those affected gulf states, but the Asians survived it quietly. They didn't complain, and they didn't beg. The Vietnamese and Cambodian people are some of the most resilient and self respecting people in the world. I never met a Vietnamese person who begged anything from anyone. Many Americans living in the gulf coast could take a lesson from the Vietnamese refugee families.

It isn't the tragedy of the Vietnam war, hurricane Katrina, or the Deep water Horizon disaster that bothers me. The plight of these Asian refugees from war torn Southeast Asia, began when they arrived here in America. I read the article from "Townhall", and my heart sank in my chest. I never realized that these people have been living in America, and working in America, and still have never learned the English language. They are still clinging to their Vietnamese and Cambodian culture, language and all. They have no papers proving, or disproving their citizenship, or their refugee status. Obviously, someone, or some organization brought these people to America, and I'm sure with the best intentions, and then abandoned them to fend for themselves in a country foreign to them. I have an animosity toward the sponsors of these refugee families. It should be the sole responsibility of the sponsoring organization to make sure any refugee brought to this country, has everything that he or she needs to properly assimilate to their new home. That includes education in the English language if they are brought to live in America. In my opinion, there is absolutely no excuse for people who have been in this country for 35 years not to be well versed in the English language. These refugees should already be citizens, they were brought here, just as the slaves were brought here, not under the same circumstances, but certainly through no fault of their own. I will not insult these Asians by feeling sorry for them, but I do feel that they are victims of disservice from their sponsor organizations, and this government. There should be no illiterate Vietnamese, or Cambodians for that matter. They have obviously fell through the cracks. Our education system, the state's they live in, the very towns they live in have failed them miserably. This is America, there should be no communities existing in this country, where the English language isn't the predominant language in reading, and writing, and speaking. I never met a Vietnamese person that wasn't willing to learn. The problem here, is there was no one responsible enough to teach them.

Unlike people from other countries who sneak into America illegally, I hear no demands from the Southeast Asians. I hear none of them begging and demanding free anything from this country. We now have a president who is willing to blanket amnesty 20 million illegal aliens and make them citizens. It needs to be understood, I do not dislike Hispanics, Mexicans if you will. But I do take exception when they illegally cross our borders, and demand to be treated as U.S. Citizens. These Hispanics are not running for their lives, they are not homeless, they have homes in Mexico. There are many people who are waiting to attain legal citizenship status in America, trespassers should not be rewarded with citizenship. Those who were brought here by sponsors, and those who await patiently for legal entry, should be first in line for citizenship.

No immigrant legal or illegal is served well by schools that speak their native language, whether it be Vietnamese, or Spanish. No church is doing right by holding service in native languages, this is America, the language spoken here is English. If you want to help immigrants, teach them English, educate them in the culture and laws of this country, they already know how things are in their native land. They come here to America for something better. If they do not want to be American, then they need to be encouraged to return to their native land.
"Tolerance is the final virtue of a dying society." Aristotle