January 29, 2013
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Ethnic Trust
Being Vietnamese is a blessing at times. I do not know how it is for other ethnicities, but being Vietnamese there is a certain level of trust and loyalty we have towards each other. I work with another program manager at one of our facilities and we let each other know of inside information and prepare each other for when shit is going to hit the fan. We share honest opinions about the people we work with and really try to break down the understanding of how to act around certain people.
Some people at work should never be trusted and some lessons are just better not learned on your own. She has been around the company for 5 years and knows a thing or two more than me. Its a good thing.
I learned this lesson when I was ten years old on ethnic relations. Vietnamese people should and will look out for your own.
I grew up in government assisted subsidized apartment housing. Being a child of refugee parents, during that time period there were many Vietnamese children that lived at this apartment complex. These were some of my favorite memories as a lot of the kids that grew up here still remain to be friends until this day.
One day we were playing tag or something in the middle of the street and a couple of my friends and I had some cans of coke in our hands. One of the kids threw his really high in the air and caught it on the way down. I was never an athletic kid and even today I am still working on that ryan gosling photoshopped look. Well seeing how cool my friend was I attempted the same feat. I threw the can of coke high in the air, but I released late and it arced behind me and fell into the windshield of this white lady's car and smashed her window.
There were at least 10 Vietnamese kids that saw. We ran over took the can of coke and wiped down the windshield because the can exploded a bit on the window and we all ran.
I never got caught for this.
If you can't trust you own, what is left in the world?
#vietnamese #thuglife #childhood
Comments (21)
I find that Asians tend to have a higher concentration of race traitors. I always hear them (Asian girls particularly) complain that a place has "too many Asians." What other race does that? When do Black people ever say there's too many Blacks in a club? When do you hear White people say there's too many White people in the party?
@coolmonkey - HAHAH! So true!
It goes both ways. Vietnamese can be the best and look out for you simple because you're Vietnamese or they can be the shadiest m******f***** to you because you're in the Vietnamese community and they think you won't raise hell.
@coolmonkey - HAHA so sad and true
Anyway, why do Vietnamese people always sound like they want to chop your head off?! I don't normally interact with other Vietnamese people, with the exception of my family. So when I go outside the nest, it's like O________O do my family sound like this all the time?? Do you notice this too? Or is it just me?
It's hard for me to completely trust strangers, but when it comes to first meeting those of my own ethnicity, just simply sharing the same language and heritage makes me open up to them.
@Sheegwa - Couldn't have said it better!
I'm always happy to see fellow Asians since its such a rare occurence
@coolmonkey - hah actually not entirely true, my black friend, she whinges when there's too many black guys in the club. I think black guys are cool.haha lol but yeah i get what u mean. White people have no opinions like whatever its cool haha
I was hoping your story was going to end with all the other kids sharing their cokes with you. But, I guess keeping you out of trouble is plenty good.
@coolmonkey - I frequently hear white people (myself included) talk about how "white" an occasion is...there's a fear that the whities will look racist if things are too honky.
Yah, it's like when you go to Chinatown and the shopkeepers pick out the best quality stuff for you just because you speak the same language.
except chinese people. there is just too many of us to care for all of us.
"Vietnamese people should and will look out for your own." Just not others.
@youngvan - AGREED.
@npr32486 - I think one of the underlying themes with the Viets is the diaspora and that a lot of us come from immigrant families and so there's a kindred spirit amongst us all. I'm sure there's a community or two where you would feel the same and would do the same - even if you didn't know them well enough individually, but because you shared a special connection that's specific to your community, you would provide the same support.
@MariaBoscardin - I meant Vietnamese people may look out for other Viets, but they don't look out for non Viets. I have met very few Viet people that I can trust, and too many that are just batsh*t crazy. And I'm not the only one.
I am Vietnamese but I encounter zero Vietnamese in my profession. The community has some Vietnamese but I simply don't have the opportunity to interact with them besides going to the Vietnamese grocery store. Regardless, I am like many other Vietnamese where we don't feel we belong to either mainstream or the Vietnamese culture.
Lucky, I guess. For the Chinese folks, it can go either way: you're either a comrade or a competitor. Most of the time in the professional area they see you as the latter. Kinda sad really.
i notice this loyalty most in vietnamese people and i've come to this mostly from the refugee background you stated. it makes me sad to hear of whole families displaced out of their country, but when i hear about how they cope with it - such as this story - it is heartwarming.
so...it was you that fucked up my grandmother's car! LOL
I wonder how Vietnamese feel about Pho places that are owned and runned by Koreans?
Then again there are Chinese restaurants that are also runned and owned by Koreans too.
Then again I am not offended by Chinese restaurants that also offer kimchee.
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Oh the issue is ethnic trust....there are crooked folks of all races. Don't you just hate it when someone of your own race promote a cause and run off with your money?
Why do Vietnamese people think I'm white.... em noi thieng viet ran lam ma. ..!!!!
i still think there are still a few people left to be trusted. there's just some people who think they're too good for anyone.
hmmm maybe it is a different generation, the first wave of boat people. from my own personal exp i find vietnamese ppl catty. they are constantly trying to one up each other and hussle each other for pocket change. my family moved away from San Jose because there were too many Viet ppl. I dunno though ive havent been living in a Viet community for the last 7 years though kinda sad :'( even if they catty lol
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