The Great Migration Story of My Mom

Essay I- 

After the Vietnam War, life in Vietnam was very hard, buildings were destroyed, people had no money to buy food, and people wanted to leave Vietnam to look for a better place where they would not struggle. Everyone in Vietnam started to fleeting the country for a new start. In November 1962, a baby girl was born her name was Le. She was born in Saigon, Vietnam and she has 11 other siblings. Le experienced the Vietnam War, she was 16 when her parents finally decided to leave Saigon. During the war, Le saw that people were killed and women being raped, her parents fear that these things might happen to there family so they packed up their belongings and fleeted the country. Her father said, “There is nothing more here for us, we should leave for somewhere else.” After the war, everyone was traumatized to see their own people killing each other, so people left by sailboats or commercial boats. The boats were so overcrowded that people were touching shoulders, but when it came to feeding time it was difficult. People would fight for the food even though they were only given bread. They even had to share water with other people too and people would fight for the water too.

It took about a month before the boat reached the United States, Le, and her family settles in North Carolina and everyone on the boats thought it was going to be easy from here on. Nope, they still had to apply for their citizenship but the newly immigrated Vietnamese people did not know English so it was hard for them. It was even hard for them to even apply for jobs because the company and store owner only hire people who spoke English. At the time her father thought only men can go to school and have jobs, so he put his son in school but Le also wanted to go to school with her brothers. Unfortunately, she was unable to so whenever her brothers came back from school she would take their book and teach herself English. Eventually, her father found out that she was teaching herself and he still refused to send her to school. So, her mother did, by all means, to get Le into school, her mother wanted what was best for her daughter. Le ended up going to school, but unfortunately, her dream was cut short. 

Essay II- 

In an interview with my mom, Le stated that her father didn’t allow her to go to school because her father thought that as a woman or girl was meant to stay home. They were meant to stay home to take care of the kids, do the chores, and basically stay home and nothing without the man’s permission. She also stated, “ My father thought more of girls or women, he only loves his sons and will do what is best for them.” Le got jealous of her brothers because she was the only one among her siblings that were trying to prove herself to her father. So why did her father only think that women should only stay home? Why do women get discriminated against by their sex?

    People in the 1900’s only thought men is the best, they’re the only ones that can get a job, earn money, and be able to do anything without having to get permission from someone. In an academic journal that was written by Deepika and Jatesh Kathpalia stated that men were the man who controls the household. “ The male members control the finance girl child, but when the level of income and level of education are that creates an adverse impact on women's access to household assets studied together they showed positive relationship with the attitude and other household activities reported Choudhry (2004).” this states that men have the holds control over anyone in his household. Men can get away with anything, but women had to fight for their rights. Even though women were fighting for their rights, women of color were fighting even harder for their rights. Women of color are proving themselves countlessly to show that nothing can stop them from doing the things they want to do and what is best for their future. In an academic journal that was written by Deepika and Jatesh Kathpalia stated: “52.0 percent were of the viewpoint that he will be the one to care for his parents in old age.” People in the 1900s thought that their sons are more likely to take care of their parents in the future, whereas their daughters would be “taking care of their own family.” 

Community Call to Action-
            In honoring of the migration story, immigrants still feel like a stranger in a new country. Immigrants come to American to have a better life but instead, they face the reality of the American Dream. With these migration stories, people will be able to will able to know what to expect when they come to America thinking it is going to be a better place than their previous homeplace. Some immigrants think when coming to America is better, but what they don't know is that they need to know English to be able to get a job and if they don't have a job then they will have to live on the streets.  These stories will tell immigrants that they're not the only ones struggling, people of color are also struggling. Both immigrants and people of color have somewhat of a hard time surviving in America because they struggle to survive and discrimination. In honor of these stories, people will see the struggles of both immigrants and people of color because you won't find these stories anywhere else. Every story on this website has a different story but revolves around the same idea.