[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8650]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDERS HERITAGE MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cao) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CAO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my, I guess my 
gratitude and appreciation for the Asian Pacific Islanders Heritage 
Month, which is this month. And I say that on behalf of the Asian 
Americans, especially Vietnamese Americans who are struggling right now 
in the City of New Orleans, as well as in the other Gulf States, 
because of the oil spill.

                              {time}  2100

  Many of the fishermen who are impacted by the oil spills are 
Vietnamese Americans living in Texas, living in Louisiana, Mississippi, 
and Alabama. And even though they are struggling, even though they are 
having a hard time, I know one thing for sure: It's that they will 
survive and that they will be able to overcome the difficulties and the 
sufferings that this oil spill is causing to them and their families.
  The reason why I am so positive that they will overcome this problem, 
this disaster, is because of the culture, is because of the family 
unity, is because of the strength that is inherent within the Asian 
culture. If we were to reflect on Asians, at least for me, on the 
Vietnamese history, we see that many Asian American communities, 
especially the Vietnamese communities, had to start over and to begin 
many times in our recent history.
  I just want to use my family as an example. My father and mother were 
born in North Vietnam. And in 1954, when the communists took over North 
Vietnam, they lost everything. They left their family, they left their 
possessions to escape the communist north and migrated down to South 
Vietnam to start their lives over.
  After many years of struggle, after many years of hard work, they 
again lost everything that they possessed, even their children, in the 
spring of 1975 when the communist forces took over South Vietnam.
  My father spent 7 years in the Vietnamese reeducation camps. My 
mother during that time had to care for my five sisters along with her 
husband, who was in the camp, and also a younger brother, who was also 
in the reeducation camp. And then they left everything again in 1991 to 
come over to the United States to start everything over again here. And 
in 2005, they lost everything again because of Hurricane Katrina.
  So just to tell you the history of my own family and the ability of 
the Vietnamese Americans to survive through all of these struggles, 
through all of these sufferings. And my family is not unique. My family 
is only an example of the thousands of Vietnamese American families who 
have endured the same struggles, who have endured the same sufferings 
through the brief history that I just outlined. And it just tells you 
of the resiliency, of the strength that is inherent in the Asian 
American culture that allows the people like my family to survive, that 
allows the fishermen along the Gulf Coast to survive, that allows them 
to excel and to thrive.
  So I am here on behalf of the many Asian Americans in the United 
States to declare that I am proud to be an Asian American, that I am 
proud to be a Vietnamese American representing my people in the U.S. 
Congress.

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