July 5, 2018
Kathy Khanh Linh Tran, Delegate, 42nd District, Virginia House of Delegates
In 1979, my parents and I were refugees, escaping from Vietnam on a rickety boat for several days. My mother remembers that on the night we left our homeland, there were no stars in the sky - it was so dark that she could not tell where the ocean ended and the sky began. As we left the shores into this watery abyss, she wondered how we would survive.

July 3, 2018
The recent news of children being torn from their families at the border is  a chilling reminder of the threats currently facing vulnerable communities. The Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy has violated and traumatized the families of over 2,300 children. The executive order that purports to halt family separation neither fixes the irreparable harm nor seeks to reunite already-separated families. Rather, it now allows families to be detained indefinitely. The crisis is far from over.

June 22, 2018
Thu Quach, PhD, PIVOT Policy Committee Chair
My family – my parents, two siblings and myself – escaped from Vietnam in 1979 by boat and arrived in the US as refugees. We were among the 800,000 boat people who braved the perilous journey, risking our lives for the sake of survival. I often tell my two sons that we were one of the lucky families who remained together. Many families were not so fortunate.

June 20, 2018
Mr. Huy Chi Tran, 47, died on June 12, 2018, while in ICE custody at Eloy Detention Center (Eloy) in Arizona. Mr. Tran had been detained at Eloy since May 25, 2018. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he was found unresponsive in his cell on June 5, 2018, and transported later that afternoon to the Banner Casa Grande Medical Center in Casa Grande, Arizona, where he died a week later. ICE has not disclosed the cause of Mr. Tran’s death or any facts or circumstances leading to his hospitalization.

May 12, 2018
Although many Vietnamese Americans have progressive views, their voices have been relatively quiet in the Vietnamese American press. PIVOT-The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization, was created to ensure that these voices are heard in our communities. Thus, we are launching this regular monthly column in Nguoi Viet on the first Saturday of every month.

May 11, 2018
My aunt helped me raise my sons. This wouldn’t have been possible without family immigration.

May 7, 2018
C. Huynh is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park
Janelle Wong is Senior Researcher at AAPI Data
Asian Americans have the highest annual household income and are most likely to hold a bachelor’s degree of any racial group in the United States. However, collecting detailed data on different Asian national-origin groups in the U.S. reveals disparities within the broader “Asian American” racial category. Asian American civil rights groups, led by Southeast Asian advocacy organizations, have long led the charge for the collection of detailed ethnic data, arguing that these data are essential to policymakers, with information about needs within the community that are often hidden.

April 26, 2018
Dr. Tung Nguyen
My life has been separated by a clear line—a childhood in wartime in Vietnam, an adulthood as a refugee in America. For many years, I have listened to stories, read books, and watched shows and movies about the war and what happened afterward. I think that many of these histories and stories are true. But to me, they are true in the way that a blind man’s description of the world based on what he can touch is true. I myself have no pretense of knowing the truths about something that costs millions their lives and weighs heavily on millions of survivors. I can only tell you what I have touched, and what has touched me. So here are some memories.

April 17, 2018
Dr. Tung Nguyen
A sanctuary is a place where people can find safety from persecution for their families.
In many countries, churches and temples have often served as sanctuaries against oppressive governments. This is because protecting other people from harm is a fundamental tenet of morality. As refugees, Vietnamese Americans know the value of a refuge. Most Vietnamese Americans are here because humanitarians in the U.S. government made America a safe place for us.

April 11, 2018
Dear Honorable Mayor Ta, Councilmember Diep, Councilmember Contreras, Councilmember Ho, and Councilmember Rice,

My name is Cathy Lam. I am a parent and member of VROC (Viet Rainbows of OC) and a member of PIVOT - The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization.  

As a refugee from Vietnam, I was raised in Westminster since the age of 12. Forty-three years later, both of my parents, Tony Lam and Mau Hop, still call Westminster home, where I often stay with them three months out of the year.