Asian-Americans

We met many Asian-Americans in Seattle and Portland, especially in Seattle's Chinatown. The Wing Luke Asian Museum is the Asian American community-based museum, which is explained about the culture, tradition, and history of Chinese and other immigrants. This area is called international district, because a lot of ethnic groups (African-Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnams, Cambodians, etc.) settled together and built one neighborhood. At first, many male workers had come here, but as time passed, they were joined by their family. Many kinds of ethnic groups got along with each other, but on the other hand, the racial discrimination to those people also broke out. Immigrants could not even live in other parts of Seattle. Now, they can live whereever, but cities now appreciate and promote diversity and international discticts. (by Saika)



We met a Vietnamese man, our tour guide at the University of Washington. He is 21, a senior in the university. I thought he is international student, but he explained us about facilities in fluent English during the tour. He has lived in the U.S since he was five years old (but never took Enlish classes. He speaks Vietnamese when he talks with his family, but had not yet been back to Vietnam. The U.S took many Vietnamese or Cambodian after the Vietnam War, as a sort of apology for imprisoning many during the war. (by Sarasa)

We also met a Cambodian, who gave us a tour at the Asian-American museum in Chinatown. Though she never had language classes, she spoke fluently; in fact, she spoke so quickly, most students couldn't understand! However, her mom doesn't speak English though she has been her many years. She has relied on her daughter since a young age to help her communicate at the doctor or supermarket. This seems to be common for many immigrant families.