Andrew Lam, an award winning writer, journalist and author from San Francisco, gives creative insights and raw data of what it means to be Vietnamese American from 1975 until recent times. These are the slides that he has presented at Salon Saigon! Please check out his full video presentation at: https://youtu.be/u6CJs6So5N8 Enjoy!

1. Vietnamese in
America
The exodus and the return

2. Lorem Ipsum Dolor
America -
Beautiful Land-
Mỹ Quốc
Myth of America

4. Before the exodus
❖ Population of Vietnamese in America before 1975:
According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
650 Vietnamese arrived as immigrants between 1950
and 1974, but the figure excludes students, diplomats,
and military trainees. If included, they number around
1,200.

5. Population of Vietnamese in
America
Vietnamese Americans (Vietnamese: Người Mỹ gốc Việt) are Americans of Vietnamese descent.[5] They make up about half of a
overseas Vietnamese (Vietnamese: Người Việt hải ngoại) and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese
Americans, Filipino Americans, and Indian Americans, and have developed distinctive characteristics in the United States.
1975 - Fall of Saigon - the U.S.-sponsored evacuation of approximately 125,000 Vietnamese refugees..
As of January 2012, Vietnamese immigrants were the tenth largest unauthorized immigrant population in the United States. An estimated 160

6. Vietnamese in the U.S. Fact Sheet
❖ https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/fact-sheet/asian-
americans-vietnamese-in-the-u-s-fact-sheet/

7. Mental Health
Survey results from 572 Vietnamese Americans showed depression prevalence at 30.2%. Those with
depressive symptoms tended to be female, unmarried, unemployed, experiencing family relationship
concerns, health issues, or income losses. Seeking help from mental health professionals was the least
preferred treatment. Logistic regression analysis predicted that each unit increase in physical health
concerns on a four-point scale raised the likelihood of Vietnamese Americans having depressive
symptoms by 67.3%. PTSD prevalent among first generation and it can pass on to second.
1.Stigma and face;
2. Social functioning and the role of the family;
3. Traditional healing and beliefs about medications;
4. Language and culture.

8. Vietnamese in
Silicon Valley and
Beyond
“Chồng tách, vợ ly đi làm cùng sếp
sướng hơn” -

9. Language
Barriers &
Generation
GapAccess to health care
Access to legal representation & rules of
laws
Glass Ceilings
Gap: Understanding between generations,
cultural transmission, and other issues.

10. Dilemma of language gap, barrier, and immigration
Exile vs The
center
Two Vietnamese American
poets - two different worlds -
same origin

11. Vietnamese American Politics

12. Vietnamese Americans in
politics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_politicians_of_Vietnamese_descent

13. Vietnamese American politician
Stephanie
Murphy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Murphy
Stephanie Murphy (born Đặng Thị Ngọc Dung; September
16, 1978) is an American business consultant, professor, and
politician from the state of Florida. She is a member of the
Democratic Party and a member of the United States House
of Representatives for Florida's 7th congressional district,
having defeated incumbent John Mica in 2016. The district
includes much of downtown and northern Orlando, as well as
all of Winter Park, Maitland, Sanford and Altamonte Springs.
Murphy is the first Vietnamese-American woman and the
second Vietnamese-American person overall (after
Republican Joseph Cao of Louisiana) to be elected to
Congress.

14. Who’s Who in Vietnamese
America
Hoang Kieu
Born in Vietnam - Triệu Phong, Quảng Trị Province, Hoang is a
Vietnamese-born American billionaire who owned 37% of Shanghai
RAAS Blood Products in 2013, which is traded on the Shenzhen Stock
Exchange. He debuted on the 2014 Forbes Billionaires List, with a net
worth of $3.8 billion.[2]
According to Forbes, Hoang Kieu's debut on the list is due to a large part
from a big jump in the share price of plasma supplier Shanghai RAAS
Blood Products, whose shares trade on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Hoang, an American citizen, owns 183.6 million shares, or 37% of the
company.
Born in Trieu Phong District, Quang Tri Province, Hoang Kieu moved to
the US at the age of 32 with his wife and children.
He began his professional career in the US in 1975 at Abbott Reference
Laboratories. In 1980, he founded Rare Antibody Antigen Supply Inc.
(RAAS).
In 1992, after several years of distribution of plasma derived products,
Shanghai RAAS was established and began selling its own human
albumin, AlbuRAAS, and plasma derived medicines.

15. Who’s Who in Vietnamese
America
❖ Viet Nguyen
Viet Thanh Nguyen is the author of the novel The
Sympathizer (winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in fiction)
and the cultural history Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and
the Memory of War (finalist in nonfiction for the 2017
National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle
Award, and winner of the René Wellek Prize), and the
Macarthur Genius Grant. His current book is the short
story collection The Refugees. He is the Aerol Arnold
Chair of English and Professor of American Studies and
Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

16. Who’s Who in Vietnamese
America
❖ David Tran: Mr. Sriracha
In 1975, Tran, who was born in Soc Trang, Vietnam,
produced his flagship hot sauce, Pepper Sa-te. Four
years later, Tran and 3,317 other refugees left
Communist Vietnam to for the United States, on a
freighter named Huey Fong. Ultimately, this was the
inspiration behind the name of the company we have all
grown to love, Huy Fong. During his humble beginnings,
the unsurpassable genius produced his first hot sauce
called Pepper Sa-te. He filled his Sa-te sauce in
recycled glass baby food jars that then was sold and
delivered by family members via bicycle.
By 1980, Tran took it up a notch. In his 5,000 square
foot facility in Los Angeles he introduced a few other
sauces to his collection. In addition to Pepper Sa-te
came Sambal Oelek, Chili Garlic, and of course, the life-
changer, Sriracha.

17. Bomb Lady-
(Dương Nguyệt Ánh; born 1960 in
Saigon) is a Vietnamese American
scientist responsible for the creation of
the Thermobaric weapon.[1]
She is noted as the "Scientist who
developed the bomb that ended the war
with Afghanistan" by the Vietnamese
American National Gala.[2]
http://www.vietamericanvets.com/Page-Diaspora-
BombLady.htm
Duong Nguyen Anh

18. Who’s Who in Vietnamese
America
❖ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le
e%27s_Sandwiches
❖ Lee’s Sandwiches
Lee's Sandwiches was founded by the Lê family, who owned a
successful sugar refinery in An Giang Province in Vietnam before the
Vietnam War and immigrated to the United States as boat people in July
1979.[10][11][4] After having lived briefly in New Mexico and Monterey,
California, they settled in San Jose, California, in 1980.[1]
As of 2018, Lee's Sandwiches has 59 locations in the United States.
They are located in cities with large Vietnamese American populations in
Arizona, California, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia.
One shop is located in front of the original location, next to San Jose City
Hall. Lee's Sandwiches has locations in food courts at the Asian Garden
Mall in Westminster, California, and the Cali Saigon Mall in Garland,
Texas. With locations in Westminster Mall in Westminster and Eastport
Plaza in Portland, Oregon, Lee's Sandwiches is one of the first
Vietnamese businesses to enter mainstream malls and shopping
centers.[2][1]
Outside the U.S., Lee's Sandwiches has two locations in Taipei,
Taiwan.[3]

19. Monique Truong- Author - Book of Salt,
ter in the Mouth, and The Sweetest Fruits
Thi Bui

21. Chloe Dao - Fashion Designer

22. Michelle Phan- Cosmetician -Viet Xuan Luong - Major General
Dustin Nguyen - Actor

24. Trauma and
Transformation -
*Psychological: land bound —> global
connection.
*Status: refugee—>immigrant—-
>citizen—->cosmopolitan

25. Trauma and transformation
East Vs West
Trauma vs Optimism
Collectivism vs individualism
Identity shift along with politics

26. The return
❖ From Paris By Night to Start Ups…
❖ First a trickle now a river…
❖ An estimated 45% of tech startups in the country are Viet Kieu. Those that aren’t returning to Vietnam’s shores are still
contributing to the country’s upward economic trajectory.
❖ NGOs, ITs, Investors, Construction, Food services, retirement, Education, Real estate, — even Salon Saigon is an expression of
this return.

27. Remittances
Remittances - The US accounts for 60 percent of all the remittances
sent to Vietnam (@ US $8.3 billion in 2017), while 20 percent are
sent from Europe. Other major sources include China, South Korea,
and Japan. Vietnam received nearly US$13.8 billion in remittances in
2017, making it the eighth highest recipient of remittances in the
world. Ho Chi Minh City continues to remain the highest recipient in
the country, with total inflows at US$5.2 billion, an annual increase of
4.5 percent.
Movement of money From
Cold War to age Globalization
s an epic narrative waiting to
be told

28. Refugees in 1975
Viet Kieu in 2015 at Tan Son Nhat
A Need to Tell Stories To Fill the Gap Between Us