Being Amerasian in 2010

I went in to get a pedicure and I left with a history lesson from Mary who is a 42-year-old Amerasian from Vietnam. Mary co-owns a nail shop with her Amerasian sister Vicky. They arrived in America with their Grandmother when Mary was 21 years old. In Vietnam, they were reviled as a bui doi or "dust child," the mixed-race child of an American soldier and a Vietnamese mother. These children were also called half-breeds and were considered tainted because of their skin color and facial features. Mary, her sibling, along with some 23,000 Amerasians and 67,000 of their relatives were able to emigrate to the US due the passing of the Amerasian Homecoming Act that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1987.

In April 1975, tens of thousands of people with ties to the US were lifted off in helicopters from the top of the US Embassy in Saigon. The rest of the “children of the dust” were left behind to fend for themselves as they enemy rolled in. Many of them suffered abandonment not only from their fathers, but also from their mothers and extended families. They often were left in orphanages, made to work as field hands, housekeepers, or beggars. The Vietnamese government did not prohibit Amerasians from going to school, however it was a cruel place for a child of mixed race. In school, children jumped Mary, beat, taunted her, and refused to sit next to her.

Mary and Vicky are two of thousands of children of US service members who lead shadow lives, somewhat isolated from American life and the Vietnamese community by a chasm of illiteracy, language barriers, distrust and discrimination. Being of mixed race and with minimal formal education, their assimilation into the American culture was a long and difficult journey, but Mary and Vicky have shown real strength and resiliency by demonstrating economic self-sufficiency. Mary has her own dream about what it means to be an American and seems to long for her homeland that does not miss her.

Mary seems to have a few friends and loyal customers. Her English, although heavily accented, is quite good. She lives with her sister in a home located in Madison County, Alabama. When she is not at work, she is usually at home. She likes it there, but she has faced some discrimination there too. Finding a home in the “land of her Father”, in many ways has been as elusive as it was in Vietnam.