From Dust to Gold: The Vietnamese Amerasian Experience
The reading reveals two forms of hardships the children of veterans had to face—discrimination and lack of necessities. The mainstream Vietnamese society perceived the Amerasians as an inferior race, blaming their mothers for associating with the Americans. However, in fact, both the American and Vietnam governments have a responsibility toward the children, who stood between the two communities.
The resettlement and support programs for the Amerasians proved useful to restore their dignity. They suffered in Vietnam because the government did not bother about their social and cultural issues. They lacked equal opportunities for education and employment since the mainstream society treated them as foreigners. It is true that these people deserved support from the leaders in their fathers’ homeland, but the Vietnam government too could have offered them a conducive environment to pursue their lives.
The Amerasian Legislature Act was passed by the US Congress in 1982. It came as a breakthrough for the veterans’ children. By this Act, the American government decided to recognize the children as long as they could prove their paternity.
As regards the Vietnamese society, they perceived the complete family as a vital element of life. Thus, for them, fatherless children have less value in society. Therefore, when the Homecoming Act allowed the Amerasians to resettle in their fathers’ homeland, it liberated them from suffering in Vietnam as in a foreign land.
When the American government decided to resettle the Amerasians in their fathers’ homeland, the poor people rose from dust to gold. The discrimination of the Amerasians in Vietnam is unjustifiable because they deserved better treatment in their mothers’ homeland. In fact, both the governments should have supported them as part of their own population.
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