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The dream shattered: Vietnamese gangs in America
Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 469--471, 1996 Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0047-2352/96 $15.00 + .00
Pergamon
PII S0047-2352(96)00024-4
BOOK REVIEW
The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America by Patrick Du Phuoc Long with Laura Ricard Northeastern University Press (416 Columbus Place, Boston, Massachusetts 02115), 1996, 250 pp., hardcover--$28.95. Within the past several years, there have been insightful studies of Latino and Puerto Rican gang involvement by young American immigrants. With Du Phuoc Long's and Ricard's addition, investigations into Vietnamese gangs in America are now possible. The book is organized into seven chapters that describe how Vietnamese youth, separated from their native country, become immersed in a destructive gang subculture. This book is comprised of two dominant juxtaposed themes: (1) how some Vietnamese youth, lost in a foreign country, become involved in learning the norms of the gang and carrying out illegal activities; and (2) the patience and empathy of counselors, such as Du Phuoc Long, who are dedicated to help these troubled youth (the seventh chapter and the Afterword are descriptions of counselling sessions). The Introduction grips the reader with the first theme: chilling activities of young Vietnamese criminals, such as the sons of the family of Bim Nguyen who, along with fifty-one other refugees, fled Vietnam aboard a small fishing boat following the communist insurgency and takeover. Resettled in California, the Nguyens raised their four sons and two daughters. One night in 1991, sixteen years after their exodus, Bim and his wife, Sao, were watching television
when the faces of three of their sons and a fourth Vietnamese youth flashed across the screen. The four had stormed into a Good Guys electronics store in South Sacramento and were holding forty-one people hostage. Eight hours later, a SWAT team had shot and killed two of the Nguyen brothers and wounded the third, but not before the four had tortured and killed two store employees and a customer. The Nguyen boys had been attending Mass every Sunday and one was an altar boy. A small fraction of the approximately 800,000 Vietnamese who live in this country become involved in the criminal gang subculture. Du Phuoc Long asserts that "in March, 1993, the FBI observed that the crime rate in the Vietnamese community was 'grossly disproportionate' to its s i z e . . . 'the people in these selfcontained communities rated c r i m e . . , as their priority problem'"(9). This is because Vietnamese criminals often target other Vietnamese. The first chapter describes the variations within the American and Vietnamese cultures and the three large immigration waves (the first was from 1975 to 1977 and consisted mainly of two groups: young, educated youth under eighteen years of age and educated adults, the majority of which were white-collar workers; the second, from 1977 to 1985, also consisting mainly of adults with white-collar occupations; and the third from 1985 to the present, consisting mostly of poor fishermen and villagers). Many immigrants in the first wave were able to maintain their occupations here and are economically successful. Many of the second wave, however, were not. A large proportion of the third-wave immigrants wound up on wel-
469
470
Book Review
fare. Some of the children of all three immigrant waves became involved in criminal gangs; they are called bui doi, "children of dust." The process of becoming a gang member is the focus of the second chapter. The authors describe in great detail the cultural conflicts experienced by the young foreigners. Unquestioned family loyalty, an understanding that children should not experience anger, frustration, or contempt, and the withdrawal of love and shaming, acceptable Vietnamese forms of punishment, clash with individual choices and freedoms, the encouragement of displaying emotions, and the belief that punishment should be the logical consequence of the misdeed. Since Vietnamese parents are reluctant to share their feelings with their children, the result is often a lack of communication between the generations. This creates feelings of embarrassment and shame, and the children often become rude and disrespectful (82). Many Vietnamese parents refuse to acknowledge the problems that their children face. They are confused and ashamed. Although they want the best for the children, as all parents do, they often ignore the warning signs: truancy, lack of respect for authority, and absence from the home. Marriages often suffer when the children get into trouble; about 25 percent of Vietnamese families in the United States today are headed by women (78). The authors cite case after case of young Vietnamese, ages nine to fourteen, who, lost in a foreign culture, use drugs, guns, and the "security" of gang membership to help them survive. In an insightful chapter entitled "Learning the Trade," Du Phuoc Long and Ricard discuss why criminal activity is often perceived to be attractive to some immigrant youth: Not prepared to function in, nor even to immediately understand a new culture, the refugee experiences "culture shock." With Vietnamese, culture shock is not experienced on an individual level, but as a family unit, resulting in friction between the generations. The stress felt within the family, combined with the pressure from the outside to learn a new language, a new culture.., affects the psychological well-being of the refugee, especially the younger family
members. It is not unusual to see the involvement of some adolescent family members, in a rebellious spirit... (119) Boys and girls become prey for gang members. Often an older criminal youth (a Big Brother) will hang around a school, looking for new gang recruits (girls are often victimized sexually after being introduced to drugs, especially marijuana. Eager to please, the youths are vulnerable to one who "understands them.") Big Brothers teach the children the "tricks of the trade" of gang membership, such as home burglary or how to conduct a drug sale. Older gang members use minors to act as lookouts for the police while the gang is conducting a criminal operation. Young recruits will be rewarded with new clothes, new shoes, or marijuana. These gifts are satisfying to "wannabes." Focusing on the materialistic American culture, these children desire items shown on TV but cannot afford to buy because many of their parents are struggling just to survive or are on welfare. After a child has proven to be a reliable lookout, Big Brother will then entrust him to deliver drugs and money can be easily obtained. Some eventually become drug dealers who, in California, can earn as much as $3,000 per day (123). It is important to understand that some Vietnamese gang members are often prone to use excessive violence in their criminal activities. Although often taught by a Big Brother, the gangs are loosely knit and are not tied to a given territory. Peer support is essential, and although some youth have "graduated" to violence, house burglaries are often common criminal activities. This is similar to the conflict gang type in Cloward' s and Ohlin' s study of delinquent opportunity. Vietnamese delinquents know that many burglaries will go unreported because the Vietnamese victims are too ashamed to report their loss to the police. Chapters 5 and 6 concentrate on the second theme of the book: counselling. Apprehension often places a child in either a "ranch," a reform center for first time offenders, or a "last chance ranch," where repeated serious offenders, may be assigned. The goal is to provide the wards, as the children are known, with an opportunity to
Book Review
undergo rehabilitation. Du Phuoc Long is a counselor at several of these facilities in California. He describes, in great detail in the fifth chapter, his experiences with seventeen-yearold Tien Duy, who was assigned for possession of a semiautomatic rifle and a nine-inch knife at the time of his arrest for riding in a stolen vehicle. We follow the dialogue of counselor and counselled, and at one point Du Phuoc Long noticed the tattoo of the Born to Kill gang on Tien's wrist. Asked whether he was born to kill, the boy shook his head. Noticing five burned dots arranged in a dice pattern on the other wrist, the counselor inquired as to their meaning. When no response was forthcoming, Du Phuoc replied: "these stand for tien (money), tinh (sex), thuoc (drugs), toi (crime), and tu (jail)" (155). Although Tien initially denied this, through twenty-two pages of dialogue portraying careful questioning and understanding, Du Phuoc Long persuaded his young charge to become a trustworthy individual with the ultimate goal of joining the Air Force. Eighteen months after release, the boy was doing well. For every success, however, there are several failures. Du Phuoc Long describes these as well. Some youth, such as Hoat Nguyen, a third time offender, feel that they have no legitimate opportunities and no alternatives to crime. These individuals often are assigned to "last chance ranches," the subject of the sixth chapter. If rehabilitation is unsuccessful at this level, the alternative is to be sentenced to an institution within the California Youth Authority (CYA). Yet, only 20 percent of the youth who leave the CYA never return (194). State prison is the next stop. This book is a revealing analysis of the
471
causes and consequences of Vietnamese criminal gang activity in America. It presents a penetrating portrait of the troubles that many youth face when they feel alienated. Frustrated, angry, and the recipient of mixed messages, the allure of gang membership awaits. Anyone interested in the subculture of Vietnamese violence and its toll on family life will welcome this book. The heartache of parents losing their children to gangs is evident. For many Vietnamese, their lost children have shattered their dreams. Despite its thoroughness in providing an indepth analysis of how Vietnamese gangs entice youth, there is no reference to any general sociological, psychological, or criminal justice gang theory. The bibliography consists mainly of news articles and personal conversations. Thus, if one desires to assign this book as a supplement, for instance, in a criminology or juvenile delinquency class, the instructor will have to introduce some of the major theories, such as subculture and/or strain theory, prior to reading this work. Otherwise, the work will not become part of our rich knowledge of "gang literature," but will remain an isolated account of an individual's experience with troubled youth. With the introduction of theories prior to reading this work, this well written and organized portrayal of Vietnamese gang culture will provide students of criminology, juvenile delinquency, and criminal justice with a welcomed addition to our knowledge of gang subcultures.
Irwin Kantor Department of History and Social Behavior Middlesex County College Edison, New Jersey 08818
Pergamon
PII S0047-2352(96)00024-4
BOOK REVIEW
The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America by Patrick Du Phuoc Long with Laura Ricard Northeastern University Press (416 Columbus Place, Boston, Massachusetts 02115), 1996, 250 pp., hardcover--$28.95. Within the past several years, there have been insightful studies of Latino and Puerto Rican gang involvement by young American immigrants. With Du Phuoc Long's and Ricard's addition, investigations into Vietnamese gangs in America are now possible. The book is organized into seven chapters that describe how Vietnamese youth, separated from their native country, become immersed in a destructive gang subculture. This book is comprised of two dominant juxtaposed themes: (1) how some Vietnamese youth, lost in a foreign country, become involved in learning the norms of the gang and carrying out illegal activities; and (2) the patience and empathy of counselors, such as Du Phuoc Long, who are dedicated to help these troubled youth (the seventh chapter and the Afterword are descriptions of counselling sessions). The Introduction grips the reader with the first theme: chilling activities of young Vietnamese criminals, such as the sons of the family of Bim Nguyen who, along with fifty-one other refugees, fled Vietnam aboard a small fishing boat following the communist insurgency and takeover. Resettled in California, the Nguyens raised their four sons and two daughters. One night in 1991, sixteen years after their exodus, Bim and his wife, Sao, were watching television
when the faces of three of their sons and a fourth Vietnamese youth flashed across the screen. The four had stormed into a Good Guys electronics store in South Sacramento and were holding forty-one people hostage. Eight hours later, a SWAT team had shot and killed two of the Nguyen brothers and wounded the third, but not before the four had tortured and killed two store employees and a customer. The Nguyen boys had been attending Mass every Sunday and one was an altar boy. A small fraction of the approximately 800,000 Vietnamese who live in this country become involved in the criminal gang subculture. Du Phuoc Long asserts that "in March, 1993, the FBI observed that the crime rate in the Vietnamese community was 'grossly disproportionate' to its s i z e . . . 'the people in these selfcontained communities rated c r i m e . . , as their priority problem'"(9). This is because Vietnamese criminals often target other Vietnamese. The first chapter describes the variations within the American and Vietnamese cultures and the three large immigration waves (the first was from 1975 to 1977 and consisted mainly of two groups: young, educated youth under eighteen years of age and educated adults, the majority of which were white-collar workers; the second, from 1977 to 1985, also consisting mainly of adults with white-collar occupations; and the third from 1985 to the present, consisting mostly of poor fishermen and villagers). Many immigrants in the first wave were able to maintain their occupations here and are economically successful. Many of the second wave, however, were not. A large proportion of the third-wave immigrants wound up on wel-
469
470
Book Review
fare. Some of the children of all three immigrant waves became involved in criminal gangs; they are called bui doi, "children of dust." The process of becoming a gang member is the focus of the second chapter. The authors describe in great detail the cultural conflicts experienced by the young foreigners. Unquestioned family loyalty, an understanding that children should not experience anger, frustration, or contempt, and the withdrawal of love and shaming, acceptable Vietnamese forms of punishment, clash with individual choices and freedoms, the encouragement of displaying emotions, and the belief that punishment should be the logical consequence of the misdeed. Since Vietnamese parents are reluctant to share their feelings with their children, the result is often a lack of communication between the generations. This creates feelings of embarrassment and shame, and the children often become rude and disrespectful (82). Many Vietnamese parents refuse to acknowledge the problems that their children face. They are confused and ashamed. Although they want the best for the children, as all parents do, they often ignore the warning signs: truancy, lack of respect for authority, and absence from the home. Marriages often suffer when the children get into trouble; about 25 percent of Vietnamese families in the United States today are headed by women (78). The authors cite case after case of young Vietnamese, ages nine to fourteen, who, lost in a foreign culture, use drugs, guns, and the "security" of gang membership to help them survive. In an insightful chapter entitled "Learning the Trade," Du Phuoc Long and Ricard discuss why criminal activity is often perceived to be attractive to some immigrant youth: Not prepared to function in, nor even to immediately understand a new culture, the refugee experiences "culture shock." With Vietnamese, culture shock is not experienced on an individual level, but as a family unit, resulting in friction between the generations. The stress felt within the family, combined with the pressure from the outside to learn a new language, a new culture.., affects the psychological well-being of the refugee, especially the younger family
members. It is not unusual to see the involvement of some adolescent family members, in a rebellious spirit... (119) Boys and girls become prey for gang members. Often an older criminal youth (a Big Brother) will hang around a school, looking for new gang recruits (girls are often victimized sexually after being introduced to drugs, especially marijuana. Eager to please, the youths are vulnerable to one who "understands them.") Big Brothers teach the children the "tricks of the trade" of gang membership, such as home burglary or how to conduct a drug sale. Older gang members use minors to act as lookouts for the police while the gang is conducting a criminal operation. Young recruits will be rewarded with new clothes, new shoes, or marijuana. These gifts are satisfying to "wannabes." Focusing on the materialistic American culture, these children desire items shown on TV but cannot afford to buy because many of their parents are struggling just to survive or are on welfare. After a child has proven to be a reliable lookout, Big Brother will then entrust him to deliver drugs and money can be easily obtained. Some eventually become drug dealers who, in California, can earn as much as $3,000 per day (123). It is important to understand that some Vietnamese gang members are often prone to use excessive violence in their criminal activities. Although often taught by a Big Brother, the gangs are loosely knit and are not tied to a given territory. Peer support is essential, and although some youth have "graduated" to violence, house burglaries are often common criminal activities. This is similar to the conflict gang type in Cloward' s and Ohlin' s study of delinquent opportunity. Vietnamese delinquents know that many burglaries will go unreported because the Vietnamese victims are too ashamed to report their loss to the police. Chapters 5 and 6 concentrate on the second theme of the book: counselling. Apprehension often places a child in either a "ranch," a reform center for first time offenders, or a "last chance ranch," where repeated serious offenders, may be assigned. The goal is to provide the wards, as the children are known, with an opportunity to
Book Review
undergo rehabilitation. Du Phuoc Long is a counselor at several of these facilities in California. He describes, in great detail in the fifth chapter, his experiences with seventeen-yearold Tien Duy, who was assigned for possession of a semiautomatic rifle and a nine-inch knife at the time of his arrest for riding in a stolen vehicle. We follow the dialogue of counselor and counselled, and at one point Du Phuoc Long noticed the tattoo of the Born to Kill gang on Tien's wrist. Asked whether he was born to kill, the boy shook his head. Noticing five burned dots arranged in a dice pattern on the other wrist, the counselor inquired as to their meaning. When no response was forthcoming, Du Phuoc replied: "these stand for tien (money), tinh (sex), thuoc (drugs), toi (crime), and tu (jail)" (155). Although Tien initially denied this, through twenty-two pages of dialogue portraying careful questioning and understanding, Du Phuoc Long persuaded his young charge to become a trustworthy individual with the ultimate goal of joining the Air Force. Eighteen months after release, the boy was doing well. For every success, however, there are several failures. Du Phuoc Long describes these as well. Some youth, such as Hoat Nguyen, a third time offender, feel that they have no legitimate opportunities and no alternatives to crime. These individuals often are assigned to "last chance ranches," the subject of the sixth chapter. If rehabilitation is unsuccessful at this level, the alternative is to be sentenced to an institution within the California Youth Authority (CYA). Yet, only 20 percent of the youth who leave the CYA never return (194). State prison is the next stop. This book is a revealing analysis of the
471
causes and consequences of Vietnamese criminal gang activity in America. It presents a penetrating portrait of the troubles that many youth face when they feel alienated. Frustrated, angry, and the recipient of mixed messages, the allure of gang membership awaits. Anyone interested in the subculture of Vietnamese violence and its toll on family life will welcome this book. The heartache of parents losing their children to gangs is evident. For many Vietnamese, their lost children have shattered their dreams. Despite its thoroughness in providing an indepth analysis of how Vietnamese gangs entice youth, there is no reference to any general sociological, psychological, or criminal justice gang theory. The bibliography consists mainly of news articles and personal conversations. Thus, if one desires to assign this book as a supplement, for instance, in a criminology or juvenile delinquency class, the instructor will have to introduce some of the major theories, such as subculture and/or strain theory, prior to reading this work. Otherwise, the work will not become part of our rich knowledge of "gang literature," but will remain an isolated account of an individual's experience with troubled youth. With the introduction of theories prior to reading this work, this well written and organized portrayal of Vietnamese gang culture will provide students of criminology, juvenile delinquency, and criminal justice with a welcomed addition to our knowledge of gang subcultures.
Irwin Kantor Department of History and Social Behavior Middlesex County College Edison, New Jersey 08818