Vietnamese Amerasians are those who were born to an American soldier and a Vietnamese mother during the time of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and early 1970s. Outcasts in Vietnam, most are now in America living in poverty. Few have ever seen their fathers.
There are about 22,000 of them in America, at least 4,000 of which are black. Maybe 2,000 more still live in Vietnam but there is no way of knowing.
In Vietnam they were called “half-bloods” and “children of the dust”. They had no fathers in a land where fatherhood is strong. They were mixed in a land where almost everyone is pure Vietnamese. To the Vietnamese they looked like black and white Americans, they looked like the enemy of a long war in a country broken by that war.
They were outcasts. They were unwanted. Sometimes their mothers were outcasts, seen as loose women. Sometimes even their own mothers threw them out to live on the streets. Other children called them names, beat them up or were not allowed to play with them. Most only went to school for a few years. Some cannot even read.
When Saigon fell in 1975, about 2,000 of them were flown to America and were adopted. Of the rest many were hidden or made to look more Vietnamese. Any proof of their American fathers, like pictures and letters, were destroyed for the most part to save them from being killed by the army.
In 1988 America passed the Vietnamese Amerasian Homecoming Act. If you went to the Amerasian Transit Center in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), an American official would look at you and if you looked white enough or black enough he would send you on to a camp in the Philippines where you would learn a bit of English and something about America (not necessarily what you needed to know) and then be sent on to America where you would get some help for six months and then be left to sink or swim.
Most sank. Good work was hard to find: their English was bad, they had little education and no car. So most live in poverty.
Only 3% found their fathers. Partly because they had little to go on, partly because most of these men did not want to be found. Most fathers, when found, refused to see their children. Yes.
Full-blooded Vietnamese who live in America want little to do with them – they do not seem Vietnamese to them. Even to Asian Americans they often look too white or too black. And, because they are foreigners in America, black and white Americans do not see them as one of their own either.
So they are caught in the middle with no place they can truly call home. “Children of the dust” turned out to be a cruel truth.
For those who are black, sometimes called Afro-Amerasians, it is the worst. They got the least education in Vietnam, experienced the most racism and learned all the Vietnamese stereotypes about blacks, so much so that self-hatred and self-doubt is common.
– Abagond, 2009.
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I still don’t understand how can you look at your fellow kin and reject them like that 😦
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sad, very sad their own fathers wouldn’t even accept them, that’s messed up…
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is that a picture of a vietnamese amerasian and her dad in that picture?
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Yes. You can click on the picture to read her story.
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thanks for this post abagond. When i was a kid I remember a few soap operas adding the viet-american kid storyline.
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Glad to have you back!
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not never in my lifetime that i would ever want to make a bi-racial child. no matter how beautiful the child would be there’s just too much of hate in this world for that. i’m mixed with creole from my grandmother /mom side and damm sure proud.the other side treated me like a was a mulatto they didn’t had no love for me what so ever.that’s why a prefer all lightskins like me long is they are black.
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Hi, my english is not very good but i’ll try to express my point of view, Iam colombian latinoamerican mix race like we all in latinoamerica , just that iam in the black side light skin for some too dark for another ones. racism is as normal as anything because we all dislike someone or we don’t apreciate their way of life. but what is really important is to learn to respect and to tolerate people that we don’t like.
I was married to an english man and my children were born very light skinned so much so that my son has been clasified several times as a white british male. i think is funny.
I made sure my children understand and respect both heritage, and they are well liked in both comunities.
My in laws are amazing and they are of jewish heritage, the only problem we have is about religion as we don’t really follow any and we prefere the kids to choose that by themselves , in the mean time all they need to know is about right and wrong , that we love them and respect them and that ,is translating on their behaviour and the way they relate to other people wich is fine , they are not perfect but …… they are beautiful very well grounded kids. sorry again about the mistakes on my writting.
Georgina.
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How sad to be hated for something you have absolutely no control over.
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What the heck is the author of this article talking about? I am Vietnamese, and I haven’t seen any “child of the dust” abused by other Vietnamese. Asian skin color can range from pretty black to pretty white. Some of my relatives have darker skin color than I do, and the others whiter. Also, I haven’t heard of the term “children of the dust” before, only “half-bloods.” So author, what are you trying to do, making people hate one another?
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@ Hoa G Nguyen:
Respectfully, just because you’ve never seen it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. You should click on the picture above of the girl with her black father, and read the story about her. Do you think she just made that up?
“Asian skin color can range from pretty black to pretty white. Some of my relatives have darker skin color than I do, and the others whiter.”
I can’t speak specifically for Vietnam, but prejudice towards people with dark skin is rife throughout Asia, to varying degrees. Many Chinese have terrible attitudes towards dark people. My background is Indonesian – a people who tend to be much darker than the Vietnamese – and there is major preference towards lighter skin.
People who read this blog know that prejudice is EVERYWHERE and in all kinds of people. Don’t be offended when someone says that Vietnamese are racist too.
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Dear Hoa G. Nguyen,
Did you grow up in Vietnam from the fall of Saigon to the late 1980’s or 1990’s? If you did then were you living in a bubble? I’m Vietnamese Amerarasian, my mother is Vietnamese and my father is Caucasian and I was reminded everyday while living in Vietnam how unwanted I was by Vietnamese society. Yes, the taunting, the cursing happened everytime I set foot out the door to go out, or to the market, or to church, or to school and even at school. Even my mother’s relatives did not want to acknowledge me. So please, before you voice your knowledge I suggest you explore more of the issue than just the experience you have with your family. Also, if you’re truly interested in wanting to know more there’s a book called “Children of the Enemy” by Steven DeBonis in addition to the article above of Orchid Lambert, or Nguyen Thi Le Lan as that was her former name.
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It is not right to generalise even if there are more people in favour of people with whiter or white skins.
You don’t find skin lotion which darkens skin but you find skin whitener everywhere.
I am alright with people with dark skin because I find them healthier and better looking. Not many are like me and that is ok, I respect individual choice.
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Ang W Kiong
It is not right to generalise even if there are more people in favour of people with whiter or white skins.
You don’t find skin lotion which darkens skin but you find skin whitener everywhere.
I am alright with people with dark skin because I find them healthier and better looking. Not many are like me and that is ok, I respect individual choice.
____________
Yet, tanning salons and fake tans are a multi-billion dollar industry!
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@Frederica Bimble –
Actually, there are “Lotions that darken skin.” In addition, there are pills, injections and of course tanning beds. Billions of dollars are spent on these “darkeners” by all kinds of individuals.
You´ll find in Brazil that even dark complected individuals still love the beach. For example, someone with Beyonce´s skin tone would have no problem going to the beach and getting a “healthier glow”.
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@ Hoa G Nguyen:
The Vietnamese term for “children of the dust” is buoi doi. If you’ve been to Vietnam, that’s the children you see in the streets that are dirty and begging for money because their parents are either too poor or no one wanted to care for them. Most Vietnamese Amerasians were taken in only because of the Homecoming Act, and full-blood Vietnamese people wanted to come to America so they used the child as their ticket to America.
As for Vietnamese people abusing the “half-bloods”, it is true. As a child, my mom was picked on daily on her way to school. She was fortunate enough to get to school up until the 6th grade. And some of her aunts and uncles would beat her and her other half-blood siblings when they were upset, and they were the one targeted only because they were different. Other children made her hate her skin color and hair color so much that she shaved all of her hair off up until she was in the second grade when her hair was a darker brown and no longer dirty blonde.
So really, check your facts before you speak.
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Oh this article hits home for me. My dad is an Afro-Amerasian, and although he was very fortunate being brought up in a family who loved him and care for him, he really did wanted to find out his roots, especially his father. We have little info on his father, because all paper work were destroyed and burnt. I grew up with dark skin, and could never fit in at school. The asian students didn’t want to friend me because I was too black, and the black kids didn’t friend me because I had chinky eyes. I feel for other Amerasians.
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@Hoa G Nguyen
I hate to say this-but with your ignorance you are reflective of the reason why there are so many problems in society: ignorance and hatred. I’m full Vietnamese and I’m upset for the Amerasians on your behalf. A senseless comment like that could hurt so many people, and your dimwitted brain can’t seem to register that. I’m sick of the discrimination and the ignorance in the world, don’t help be a part of it.
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Wow, strange people the world over.
Well, one time, when I was youuger, I saw a girl on the tube and she was medium dark complexion with the biggest mass of large spiral curls and those distinctive chinese eyes. Of course that was unusual to see mixed chinese or Asian back then, and everyone stared at her, but not with hatred or malice, but with fascination, she looked different, but I think she looked better. Her mother was with her and they kept hugging each other and playing around as they stood on the train. Of course she was taller than her mother as well.
I think those Asian and black mixtures always look good, but that’s just my opinion. Then again, it’s acceptance from their own people and families (both sides) that they are looking for most of the time.
I guess some of those army men are like that, go around and have babies all over the place and then not claim the poor things. Anyway, I guess the women and children are victims of war, just like their fathers are.
Well, anyway, it’s a good thing that some of them found their fathers. Better late than never.
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MY heart goes out to all of you who experienced, vietnam racist and of children of the war, and also had to stay in the Philippine to learn english before entry of the United States…
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This Hoa G Nguyen sounds like a passing troll who never came back to respond.
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Don’t be too hard on Hoa. S/he probably did not see anything out of ordinary for not all Ameriasians were “tre bui doi” in VN and not only them were “bui doi”; there were and are pure Vietnameses too. So the suffering/mistreatment was not exclusively Amerasian’s.
Bui doi is a term for any homeless. If s/he is kid, we call them “tre bui doi”.
Generally, mixed children were/are not looked upon favorably by Vietnamese, as well as Asians. It has more to do with a few things:
They were mixed with foreign invaders/occupiers. Because US has never been militarily invaded, it is hard for Americans to fathom the sentiments of the Vietnamese (and Asians). 95% of Vietnamese women bedding Americans (and Chinese, Japanese, French before American) were women choosing to sell their bodies to earn a living (mostly due to poverty). The profession is a deemed shameful even here, and in VN, it was/is scandalous. And to transact with foreign invaders was even more scandalous thus more shameful. If you want to get a sense of how shameful it was, read GWTW and pay attention to how Scarlett was treated for associating with Carpetbaggers, who were also Americans, only from North, the victorious side of the civil war).
It’s easy for Americans/Westerners to judge the Vietnamese, government and people alike, negatively. Until you experience the history of constantly being invaded by foreigners, of being divided into two countries by two super powers turned foes then pitched against one another for 20 years in a war that is deemed by world historians as one of the most savage wars in the world history, and even then, your country has to be one of the poorest and most primitive for you to fully experience the emotions the Vietnamese did in the war and after.
There were and are many types of prejudices in VN then and now and future. Likewise will be in other countries around the world. If not this, will be that. 9/11 turned Americans against Muslims. So, please study a country’s history before criticizing it and its people.
One thing I want to point out is this: people, mixed or not, wanting to come to US, were (and will be) quick to learn the Americans’ buttons and pushed them with according sob stories. I am not saying that there weren’t mistreatment and cruelty thrown at the Amerasian children, only that some may have add a bit more weight on their sufferings to ensure their goal is met.
Btw, VN was an agricultural country so doing field work was not abusive, but normal for people living outside of major cities, which weren’t many.
Also worth noting is that Vietnamese (as well as Asians) like lighter skin ( considered a sign of patrician heritage/life) so we “discriminate” against pure Vietnamese with darker skin too. So don’t think the Vietnamese were racist to black Americans/Amerasians.
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By the way, don’t be quick to call me a troll if I don’t return to post also. There are millions of blogs on the WWW and I am a wanderer.
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I am Vietnamese Amerasian and have worked with Amerasians both in Vietnam and the U.S. since 2000. I’ve also worked with American Vietnam Veterans who are seeking to find their Amerasian children. Please learn more about us- (http://www.tsio.org/amerasians.html)
Also, thank-you to Abagond for sharing a piece of our stories and finding it important to do so.
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I like the story.
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That’s nuts. Vietnamese don’t want them, ‘black’ Americans don’t want them, ‘white’ Americans don’t want them, even other Easians who have no historical ties don’t want them! The fuck?!?
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Everybody deserves to be loved and have a decent life. If you fathered or bared a child and let them live and or suffer on their own, you ain’t no human in my book. People that even have this type of behavior should be casted dangerous ‘pathological’, ‘sociopaths’ etc and unfit to live in a considerate or compassionate society. That biological instinct to care for your progeny is a basic human instinct.
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@TeddyBearDaddy
I agree with you 100 percent!
I really hurt to read this post and the comments. I’m glad I happened upon it today.
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Correction:
It really hurt….
I can’t spell today.
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Hello,
I am full Vietnamese and I have a lot of interest in Amerasians. I have worked with an Amerasian in the past and he suffered from severe mental disabilities. He is the reason why I chose to research more about this population because he has told me about his past. [He was raised by his grandma in rural Vietnam, his mother abandoned him to remarry, and he never went to school because he was bullied for his physical appearance]. I wrote a term paper on this population and found that they suffer from severe discrimination, not only in Vietnam but in America. Thank you for posting your insights and spreading this message. I hope more people can understand where this population came from and we as a nation must unite and be more accepting and empathetic despite our skin colors.
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