Debunking the Good Refugee: Vietnamese American Resistance

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Debunking the Good Refugee: Vietnamese American Resistance 

Antiwar protest with students

Author: Victoria M. Huỳnh
Grades: 11-12

Suggested Amount of Time: 60 - 75 Minutes
Area of Study: Vietnamese Resettlement and Community Building

Compelling Question

  • What is Vietnamese America?

Lesson Question
  • What do counter stories about anti-war Vietnamese/American organizing in the 1970s & 1980s teach us about Vietnamese/America?
Lesson Objective

Students will be able to analyze how anti-war resistance in Vietnamese America redefines the politics of Vietnamese America by evaluating stories of 1970s and 1980s anti-war resistance and primary source documents to complete a reflection.

Lesson Background

After the post-war displacement of Vietnamese refugees to the United States, master narratives like the Good Refugee trope positioned Vietnamese refugees as exceptional and also necessarily docile, apolitical, and easily assimilable workers pursuing economic success. This framing however encourages refugee assimilation as extensions of the Model Minority Myth and frames the experience of Vietnamese refugee people as people the Americans have saved, without interrogating the systems of domination such as colonialism and US imperialism that displaced Vietnamese people in the first place. In contrast, counter-narratives about Vietnamese American resistance to the war in Vietnam and the subsequent formation of the Union of Vietnamese and other coalitions in solidarity with Vietnamese American students in the 70s and 80s present a different reality to Vietnamese/American relationship to US empire-making. 

Image Citation: Doling, T. (n.d.). Street Cred: dauntless antiwar icon Nguyễn Thai Binh and his tragic death | Saigoneer. Saigoneer. https://saigoneer.com/saigon-heritage/18331-street-cred-dauntless-antiwar-icon-Nguyễn-thai-binh-and-his-tragic-death 

Ethnic Studies Theme

This lesson connects to the ethnic studies theme of community and solidarity from the Asian American Studies Curriculum Framework (Asian American Research Initiative, 2022). Students analyze community resistance and alliances between communities, as well as the complexities within these experiences. Students consider the various ways Vietnamese resistance to oppression has manifested over time.

For additional guidance around ethnic studies implementation, refer to the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (2021) https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/esmc.asp.

Historical Thinking Skills

This lesson will facilitate student proficiency in historical perspectives, one of Seixas’ historical thinking skills (Seixas & Morton, 2013). To demonstrate the use of evidence to write historical fiction that accurately conveys the beliefs, values, and motivations of historical actors. Students consider how different historical actors have diverse perspectives on the events in which they are involved. Exploring these is key to understanding historical events.

Supplies
  • Access to laptop device
  • Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States
Readings
  • Nguyễn Thái Binh letter to the University of Washington Daily, June 24, 1971
Handouts
  1.  Hook (5–10 minutes)
  • Teacher asks: What are some ways you learn about your people’s history, outside of school? 
  • Students will turn to a partner and share.
  • Students will turn to class for group share-out. 
  • The teacher says: Within communities of color, members learn about their own histories through storytelling as these histories are not usually taught in schools. Today we are going to learn about the stories of Vietnamese/Americans that are not usually taught in school. 
  1. Class Learning (20 minutes)
  • The teacher says: As we start learning about this topic, remember we always honor the dignity of people we talk about, as though they are in the room with us. 
  • The teacher shares slides or visuals with key terms and definitions: resistance, master narrative, counter-narrative. 
    • A graphic organizer can be provided to students to write down key words and definitions, or students to construct their own notes.
    • The teacher says: Today we are going to be learning about resistance, or how Vietnamese Americans have actually fought back against their oppressors.  
    • The teacher cues definition of master narrative: 
      • The teacher shares the quote, "The master narrative is whatever ideological script is being imposed by the people in authority on everybody else. The master fiction. History. It has a certain point of view." - Toni Morrison (from Moyers & Company, 2015).
        • T will ask students: What do we think this means? In our society, who are the people in authority? 
        • Students will turn to their partner and share. 
      • The teacher shares historical context: During the Cold War, the United States played a part in intervening in many countries’ liberation struggles. As colonized countries struggled to free themselves from colonial domination, Viet Nam became an important role model to the rest of the world. The US intervened to help France maintain colonial power in Viet Nam, which caused the US War in Viet Nam. The instability the war created led to the displacement of Vietnamese refugees, many of whom resettled in the US post-1975. Media outlets then began to release articles like this one about Vietnamese and Vietnamese/Americans. 
    • The teacher explains the definition of counter narrative: 
      • Point #1: It’s important to know that some people were dispersed across the country and into neighborhoods that did not already have resources (i.e: food and housing). 
      • Point #2: This was also released at a time to create disunity amongst Vietnamese, Vietnamese Americans and Black communities that were actually working together to fight back against the violence in the US toward their people.
      • In fact, many Vietnamese Americans who had conflicting ideas with the US found ways to resist US intervention in Viet Nam. Today we are going to focus on learning about counter narratives, or narratives from the perspective of the oppressed groups, that push back against master narratives
  1. Community Collaboration (20 minutes)
  • Students will work to complete a graphic organizer around primary source artifacts from this time. If the teacher sees fit, they can model how to analyze primary sources first. 
    • Students should use Graphic Organizer to complete a Primary Source Document Analysis. 
    • Graphic Organizer to include, but not limited to: 
      • Who was Nguyễn Thái Binh and why do we not hear his story told? 
      • Why was The Union of Vietnamese created? 
      • How did The Union of Vietnamese resist, or fight back, against US violence? 
      • What makes this the counter narrative to the master narrative we learned about?
      • Students may utilize graphic organizer for paragraph reflection assessment
  1. Lesson Assessment - Cultural Production (20 minutes) 
  • Using their completed graphic organizer, students will construct a one paragraph reflection answering the following question: “What do counter stories about anti-war Vietnamese Americans organizing in the 70s and 80s teach us about Vietnamese America?” 
    • Alternatively, students can create a zine or children’s book that addresses the question. The final product can be open to a written, visual, or audio narrative. 
  1. Conclusive Dialogue (10 minutes)
  • Reflection: Students respond to exit ticket: What is one new thing I learned about Vietnamese American resistance that I relate to or connect with? 

Students will construct a one-paragraph reflection answering the following questions, “What do counter stories about anti-war Vietnamese American organizing in the 70s and 80s teach us about Vietnamese America?” Alternatively, students can create a zine or children’s book that addresses the question. 

  • Engagement: Consider the following method to support with lesson engagement:
    • Provide prompts that guide learners in when and how to ask peers and/or teachers for help
  • Representation: Consider the following method to support with multiple means of representation:
    • Use advanced organizers (e.g., KWL methods, concept maps)
    • Use outlines, graphic organizers, unit organizer routines, concept organizer routines, and concept mastery routines to emphasize key ideas and relationships 
    • Use sentence frames “Through the lens of Vietnamese/American antiwar resistance, Vietnamese/America looks like…”
    • Students can draw from a separate wordbank or glossary including the below key terms, and content can be adjusted above in terms of grade level appropriateness. 
      • Oppression 
      • Resistance 
      • Exceptional
      • Refugee
      • Success
      • Model Minority Myth 
  • Action and Expression: Consider the following method to support in presenting their learning in multiple ways:
    • Embed prompts to “stop and think” before acting as well as adequate space

For additional ideas to support your students, check out the UDL Guidelines at CAST, 2018 http://udlguidelines.cast.org.

  • Emerging: Consider the following method to support with emerging students:
    • Writing: Require vocabulary notebooks with non-linguistic representations or L1 translations 
      • During integrated ELD, teachers may sometimes offer strategic primary language support for EL students who are newcomers or at the earliest level of Emerging proficiency.
  • Expanding: Consider the following method to support with expanding students:
    • Writing: Teach signal words (comparison, chronology, cause effect, listing) for academic writing 
  • Bridging: Consider the following method to support with bridging students:
    • Writing: Require academic writing and the use of target academic vocabulary 
      • Apply domain­-specific vocabulary and general academic vocabulary in open sentence frames to perform functions, like describing or explaining, that target specific grammatical structures.

For additional guidance around scaffolding for multilingual learners, please consult the following resources:

  1. Teacher may extend activities across a week depending on student relationship to topic and familiarity with themes mentioned including:
  • Model Minority Myth
  • Good Refugee Narrative 
  • Black Power resistance in the 1970s 
  • US War in Viet Nam; US imperialism 
  • Vietnamese/America 
  1. Storytelling - Students can practice storytelling by presenting their posters to one another. 
  2. Dive into the Decades - Students can conduct a comprehensive research of Vietnam during the decades of the 1970s and/or 1980s. Guiding topics may include but are not limited to: innovations, key events, significant people, popular culture, fashion, economy. 
  3. Model Minority Myth - Students can explore the effects of the Asian Model Minority Myth. Possible research topics may include but are not limited to: populations most impacted, common stereotypes, ways to combat, effects on community members, and much more. If students can connect with the model minority myth, they can be given a safe and brave space to share their experiences with their peers.

American Initiative. 2022. Asian American Studies K-12 Framework.  https://asianamericanresearchinitiative.org/asian-american-studies-curriculum-framework/ 

Batalova, J. 2018, October 11. Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States. Migrationpolicy.org. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/vietnamese-immigrants-united-states-5 

Britt, K. 2020, May 11. English learner toolkit of strategies. California County Superintendents. https://cacountysupts.org/english-learner-toolkit-of-strategies/

California Department of Education. (2021). Ethnic studies model curriculum. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/esmc.asp 

California Department of Education & English Learner Support Division. (2012). California English Language Development standards (Electronic Edition) kindergarten through grade 12 (F. Ong & J. McLean, Eds.). California Department of Education. https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/documents/eldstndspublication14.pdf

California Educators Together. (n.d.). ELA / ELD framework. https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/resources/6537/ela-eld-framework

CAST. 2018. The UDL guidelines. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Moyers & Company. (2015, August 10). Toni Morrison on Love and Writing (Part One) | BillMoyers.com. BillMoyers.com. https://billmoyers.com/content/toni-morrison-part-1/ 

Ngo, T. N. (n.d.). Union of Vietnamese in the United States [Review of Union of Vietnamese in the United States ]. In UCLA. Retrieved July 28, 2023. https://cs.nyu.edu/~nhan/Ngo_Thanh_Nhan_Many_Bridges.pdf 

Nguyen, T.B. 1972. Nguyễn Thái Binh letter to the University of Washington Daily, June 24, 1971. Digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu. Retrieved July 31, 2023. https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/pioneerlife/id/20706/ 

San Diego County Office of Education. (n.d.). Providing appropriate scaffolding. https://www.sdcoe.net/educators/multilingual-education-and-global-achievement/oracy-toolkit/providing-appropriate-scaffolding#scaffolding

Sexias, P. & Morton, T. 2013. The big six: Historical thinking concepts. Nelson Education.

Tulare County Office of Education. (n.d.). Strategies for ELD. https://commoncore.tcoe.org/Content/Public/doc/Alpha-CollectionofELDStrategies.pdf 

Model Curriculum

Vietnamese American Experiences

Standard(s)

HSS 12.8 RI.11-12.7 W.11-12.9

Grade(s)

Grade 11 Grade 12