America was the promised land of wealth and opportunity. Yet of all the places in this vast nation, we were settled in crime-ridden Oakland, California, with its corner liquor stores and iron bars on every window. Our first home was a dingy, yellow building nearby Lake Merritt before the city turned that area into a park. Dilapidated homes peeked out behind double-barricaded fences. Vicious guard dogs barked all night and shadowy side streets concealed the drug deals and gang activity. We lived in fear and had to watch our backs to keep from being followed. We were robbed six times (twice at gunpoint) and always by a black man. We didn’t necessarily hate them, but we were terrified of black people because we could not tell which ones would do us harm. My wife called them haakgwai, “black ghosts” and we kept our distance as much as possible.
As immigrants, we stayed mostly with our own people: Chinese and Vietnamese. We lived in the same complex as many cousins, aunts, and uncles. Amanda also attended preschool in Oakland Chinatown where she met her best friend, Winnie. We relied on this community because my wife and I often worked long hours and had to leave our children home alone.
Soon after we arrived, Tên attended night school classes to learn how to open a donut shop. The work seemed too hard, though, for not much profit (although she did enjoy eating the donuts). She eventually became a seamstress and secured contract work to sew wedding dresses for well-off brides. Her skillset brought in jobs for many other immigrants, but the work was hard on her hands and eyes. Many nights, I would hear her still working in her shop while I fell asleep. My wife and I worked hard because we were too proud to stay on welfare. We also rarely spent money on ourselves, but tried to be generous toward those with less.
One of my first jobs was to deliver newspapers by foot up-and-down the Oakland hills. Every morning, I woke before dawn to prepare my load of papers, then I walked the route because I did not own a car. At the end of every month, I collected fees from house-to-house (in those days before e-payments) only to have some clients refuse to pay just because they knew they could. Years later, my friends and I opened a pho restaurant in San Bruno, which created many jobs for others. We saw many opportunities available in America, especially for our children. We eventually saved up enough to buy our own home and to send our children to a private Christian school. In that school, our daughter first learned English and also began to follow Jesus. She began attending the church as well and eventually married a pastor.
Both of our children excelled in college and in graduate school. My daughter, Amanda, graduated as valedictorian of her class from the University of the Pacific and now works as an aerospace engineer for Lockheed Martin. She is a wonderful mother to our four grandchildren in Southern California. My son, David, also boasts degrees from prestigious universities and an MBA from the London Business School. He now runs his own business as an in-demand yoga instructor and has bought a home in London. We are very proud of both of them for their accomplishments and their good character. We never imagined our life in America would be filled with so many blessings. We now live in a mostly Vietnamese community—“Little Saigon” in Westminster, California. Many of our friends and relatives live nearby and we love to celebrate with good food and fine wine. It felt like forever to cross an ocean, but we made a new life for ourselves on the other side.
