We are Refugees. We come with Hope.

Above: My father and I as new immigrants in U.S.A. 

What Doesn’t Escape Us When We Travel

As much as I think I am not limited by my identity and background, there are some truths about who you are, those identities and experiences, both privileged and non-privileged, that never truly depart from you wherever you may go.  You must never forget to understand and examine that inner self as you continue to explore the outer world.

Privileged and non-privileged consciousness is something I constantly shift from as I live here in Vietnam. The representation of my privileged self is very evident working and living here, but my non-privileged identities are inescapable, especially as I now deal with a family crisis back in the U.S.

My family situation reminds me of how immigrants are constantly disempowered due to their lack of access. They must live and make decisions based on fear rather than what is within their right or choice. I’m  learning that even as an educated individual with my immigrant identity, I’ve faced some roadblocks in helping them because I don’t fully understand our public systems and the breadth of our rights. (Larger questions emerge of what it means for me to be an advocate and leader for them – what more I could’ve done and for their future)

We are being challenged to take ownership over choices that were informed by a lifetime of ignorance as a result of living in a low resource environment and lack of exposure to people/institutions of power. We continue to live in marginality, not only out of circumstances but out of that guiding fear. To come into contact with agencies, groups or  bodies of knowledge too far removed and foreign to our non-privileged identities is a power dynamic my family fiercely repelled.

Thus my family, particularly my parents, choose to live in both external and internal marginal spaces in response to a system that chews them out and systematically and consciously oppresses them to believe they should remain within those margins.  Sadly in my personal ordeals, I’m seeing my family too easily submit to those systems of oppression but  I’m trying to do everything to empower them to resist – to fight back with me!

Hope Always Remains

With the recent debate and (backlash) of Syrian refugees resettling in our our country, I reflect on my family’s immigration here. My father was a POW in the Vietnam War, and after many years of struggling to reintegrate into Vietnamese society, he thought that leaving the country was necessary for my family to have a better life.  This path set in motion a 9 month long process that included leaving Vietnam on a boat and living in a refugee resettlement camp in the Philippines, where my parents had to learn English, were interviewed and we were finally placed in the US. While I do not personally recall this experience as I was only two at the time, it remains to be one of the most powerful experiences in my life because it represented the beginning of hope for me and my family. Therefore, I must have resolve and determination to continue hoping in order to reverse these injustices that continue to persist among immigrant communities while being mindful of my everyday privilege as an American.

With that said, I’d like to send out a message of solidarity and hope for the incoming citizens and to our fellow countrymen and women – that with the new wave of immigrants may we lean on each other for empowerment and compassion; may past generations of immigrants and refugees, and all humanists band together to teach the new and old communities to believe that they are worthy of living above the margins. And in order to honor the lessons we’ve endured while living here,  we must stop such a vicious cycle of instilling unworthiness and powerlessness in humans who deserve every right to manifest hope out of despair.