A Second War

War-related trauma specifically precipitating from the Vietnam War has a racial component which was further complicated by the introduction of hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asian refugees into the United States (VanLandingham & Fu, 2015). The enemy was racialized and purported to be subhuman and as unlike white Americans as possible (McIntosh, 2021). Interracial conflicts would ensue all over the United States in places of significant - relative to their population -  placements of Southeast Asian refugees. This was because many white Americans could not separate Southeast Asian refugees from the communist Viet-Cong they had fought against (Bittersweet Survival, 1982). The focus was on American military losses not the loss of Southeast Asian people assisting the U.S. or civilians. White America, for the most part, did not empathize with the plight of refugees or understand why they received government assistance. 

Regarding war related trauma I found sources which discuss veterans and refugees respectively. Vital comparison of each group's experiences through data collection actually shows the two groups went through a lot of similar traumatic events (VanLandingham & Fu, 2015). But a big difference was the loss of family in theater by refugees and veterans' ability to rejoin their families in a familiar place after the conflict ended (August & Gianola, 1987). Veterans also went directly home while refugees lived in successive camps before being resettled somewhere more permanently. Camps caused children to lose years in school and left adults without skilled jobs or jobs which were similar to their careers in Vietnam (Espiritu, 2014). Not being satisfied in one's job was linked to psychological stress disorder or low self esteem for both groups (Montero, 1979). There was a repatriation movement for refugees who wanted to move back to Vietnam. The dissatisfaction with camp conditions in addition to leaving Vietnam being a forced one led people to the movement. The repatriates burst the ‘humanitarian label’ the U.S. had given itself in trying to repair its image after the war ended (Stur). By examining the experiences of Southeast Asian refugees in context of white veterans' racism the racialization of the Vietnam War becomes apparent. The long term impact of this racialization is significant and reveals the prejudice all Asian Americans face. 

This newspaper article from 1975 portrays how wealth and status in Vietnam can directly affect one's position in the United States, even as a refugee. The town of Loup, Nebraska decided to help a number of Vietnamese doctors and their families transition into American life by educating them at the University of Nebraska and assisting them in passing exams to practice medicine in the U.S. Although some people are distrustful and unsympathetic for the unimaginable situation Southeast Asian refugees were facing, the town overall welcomed the doctors and their families. Both groups would stand to benefit from the new arrangement as the area was in desperate need of doctors.

 This is a short documentary made in 1982 about the experience of Vietnamese refugees in different cities in the U.S. Navigating harsh economic and social realities while grasping for their native culture was extremely difficult for Vietnamese refugees in their attempt to adapt to American life. One of the concluding sentiments from an interviewee is “unless you’ve been through it you can never really understand”. This is so powerful and is a core reason for all of the conflict in the U.S. and the retention of war related trauma. The approach taken by governmental bodies to transition SEA refugees into the U.S. was not sustainable or equitable as professed by interviewees in this documentary.

Click newspaper article to read in its entirety.

Click image to view video.

In this photograph resettled refugees hold signs on the sixth anniversary of the fall of Saigon in Houston, Texas. The sign on the right side of the photo is especially interesting: it reads “God bless America, God bless us too”. Reentering, or entering for the first time, into American society was no easy transition for veterans or refugees. The trauma both groups endured was brutal, abroad and at home. Neither should be diminished: and they can coexist.

This short video gives an Asian American veteran of the Vietnam War the opportunity to share his experiences. The racializing of Asian American soldiers and their conflation with the enemy was rampant and unquestioned. White soldiers’ mistreatment of Asian American soldiers and the enemy remained once they returned home. Many of the veterans who lived in places like Seadrift, Texas where significant numbers of Vietnamese Refugees - relative to the population - were settled had a tough time severing the refugees from the enemy. The tense relationship between the Vietnamese and White residents of Seadrift grew out of this conflation and displaced anger.

Click image to view video.

Here Louis Beam, a Lousiana Klansmen and Vietnam veteran, is seen lighting a Vietnamese fisherman's boat on fire with the words Viet-Cong graffitied on the side of it. The shooting incident brought to a climax the tension between the Vietnamese refugees and white residents of Seadrift. The unapologetic militiamen were waging a war against any Vietnamese people in the area. Residents of Seadrift, Texas and others felt they had been invaded by the people they just defended themselves against but in actuality Vietnamese refugees fled in 1975 in fear of the Viet-Cong. Beam and the KKK took it to a level which Seadrift residents were not in support of despite their anger over the murder.      

I looked for objects which delineate the effects of the Vietnam War. Hearing refugees' stories directly from them, like in “Bittersweet Survival”, is the most powerful and complete way to understand what it was really like for the average refugee once they had been resettled in the U.S. Stories of the Gulf Coast in sources unrelated to Seadrift corroborate the tensions felt between Vietnamese and White fisherman all along the Gulf Coast. Burning the boat of a Vietnamese fisherman in Seadrift by the KKK (as shown in the final photograph) is a grotesque example of the huge misunderstanding of the refugees and their position in war. Having Viet-Cong written on the side of that boat represents the lack of understanding about the war even by reasonable - non extremist - citizens. This conflation is derived from Beam’s military service in Vietnam. There was no difference between the Asian soldier in an American uniform, a Viet-Cong soldier, and the Southeast Asian refugee moving into town. The Asian American Vietnam veteran is forgotten, his sacrifice extends much farther than the average soldier. The image of the refugees holding signs speaks to the sense of indebtedness refugees felt towards America for taking them in. All the while disregarding the causation of a lot of that conflict and displacement being from American intervention. The newspaper article about Vietnamese doctors in Nebraska displays the privilege in having transferable job skills but even then they are still at the behest of charity from Americans. A year or years of training stood between them and being full members of society. Generosity for these doctors and their families, limited as it may be, is clearly appreciated. Though these doctors represent the smallest fraction of refugees.

My exhibits exploration of war-related trauma and the marginalizing of Southeast Asian refugees - which speaks to the silencing of the Asian American experience - encapsulates the themes of Seadrift. Assimilation, class of cultures, debilitating stereotypes, and violence cause an implosion in the small Gulf Coast town. One white resident of Seadrift who was a Vietnam War veteran said in his interview, “I really didn’t wanna see any more Vietnamese. Just seeing one walk down the street, it was hard for me to accept”. Later on he admits the refugees were “not the people we were fighting. These are the people we were fighting for” but “it took a long time” for him ‘to realize that”. the refugees underwent a second war. Displacing the refugees for a second time to other places in the U.S. until they felt it was safe enough for them to return to Seadrift. Mental health of Asian Americans needs to be taken more seriously. Without empathy and respect Asians are not fully fledged members of American society - no matter their citizenship status. In Seadrift strides are made toward understanding but it took incremental steps over the course of four decades. In conclusion, War-related trauma of all affected parties must be addressed in order for trust to be built or rebuilt.

Photo Credits:

  1. Camp Pendleton San Diego, California Orange County Register (1975)

  2. Screenshot from “Bittersweet Survival: Southeast Asian Refugees in America” (1982)

  3. Houston City Hall Harry Reese Houston Chronicle (1981)

  4. Screenshot from “He Fought in Vietnam, But He Had the Face of the Enemy” PBS (2020)

  5. Santa Fe, Texas Ed Kolenovsky (1981)

  6. Property of David Weinberg (year unknown)