The Formation and Racialization of Vietnamese American Youth Gangs in Southern California
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REPPIN' 4 LIFE: THE FORMATION AND RACIALIZATION OF VIETNAMESE AMERICAN YOUTH GANGS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BY KEVIN D. LAM B.A., University of California, Los Angeles, 1997 M.A., California State University, Los Angeles, 2001 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Policy Studies in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Antonia Darder, Chair Associate Professor Augusto F. Espiritu Associate Professor Yoon K. Pak Professor James Diego Vigil, University of California, Irvine UMI Number: 3363007 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3363007 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2009 Kevin D. Lam ABSTRACT The Asian American youth gang phenomenon has been a major concern the last three decades. This dissertation is on the formation and racialization of Vietnamese American youth gangs in Southern California: Why did these gangs emerge at a particular time? Under what social, historical, political, and economic contexts did they emerge? In addition, how are these youth racialized? Using critical narrative methodology, I examine the emergence of "1.5" and second-generation Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese-Vietnamese youth in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The narratives of three former and current Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese-Vietnamese gang members are presented in this research project. Themes that reoccurred in the narratives include the politics of migration; questions of space, labor, and class; racialization and representation; and contesting the urban/suburban divide. These themes lead to understanding new and different articulations of youth gangs in U.S contemporary life. Yet the lives of Vietnamese American youth cannot be discussed apart from larger Southeast Asian and Asian American contexts, namely Vietnamese exodus to the diaspora and Vietnamese migration patterns within the U.S. In addition, this research situates Vietnamese American youth in relation to U.S. empire and racialized class formations/inequalities in Southern California. I engage the theoretical analysis of "race" and racism and describe the historical and contemporary context for the racialization of 11 U.S. Asians, with a focus oil Asian American identity, identity politics, and the limitations of pan-ethnicity and "race relations" paradigm. The experiences of Vietnamese American youth gang members need to be considered in order to theorize racialization and class formation in a changing world. There are material and ideological consequences for Vietnamese and Asian American youth gang formation in Southern California, including local, state, and national policy implications. A major concern is around the politics of deportation and question of citizenship. By understanding the political economy of racism, migration, and schooling—historically, contextually, and comparatively—this project, fundamentally, attempts to restore and recover our collective humanity. in To my aunt Nga B. Lam, father Minh A .Lam, brothers Jimmy, Alan, Kerry, and sister Lima Thank you for their love, respect, and support —as we take this journey together iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation was made possible by many folks in and outside of the academy. I got a lot of help along the way, and for that, I will always be grateful. I want to thank my three interviewees for sharing their stories, as they bring much life, passion, and, through their narratives, humanity, to this work. I want to thank Carlos Tej eda, my master's adviser at CSU-Los Angeles, for introducing me to the field of Critical Pedagogy almost a decade ago and for encouraging me to pursue doctoral work. You helped plant the seed and showed me what it means to be an organic working-class intellectual. To my adviser and political mentor, Antonia Darder, thank you for your revolutionary love, support, and guidance. You taught me the importance of commitment and solidarity across differences and that scholarly work is never divorced from activism. It is the basis for class struggle to which our lives (and vocation) will always be linked. Augusto Espiritu has been a great mentor since my time as a teaching assistant for his introductory course in Asian American Studies. I will always appreciate your generosity and willingness to meet up to talk about research or play some tennis; Oftentimes, the two went hand in hand. Yook Pak has been an important supporter in my development as a scholar and thinker; from the Asian American Education class I took with you the first semester in the Midwest to seeing me through the doctoral process six years later. Thank you for your encouragement. James Diego Vigil, my external committee member, came a bit later in the game, but nevertheless has been a tremendous advocate of the v research. His expertise oh the youth gang phenomenon in Southern California is extensive and his willingness to share some of that knowledge has been a blessing. My sincere thanks go out to the Asian American Studies Program and their continued support of graduate students. The program has been "home" for me during my years at the University of Illinois. I want to thank faculty and staff for their support, in particular Kent Ono and Mary Ellerbe. I also want to give props to my colleagues and friends in the Asian American Graduate Students Organization and the Critical Research Collaborative for their collegiality, support, and Challenging responses in our desire to develop intellectually, as well as politically. Finally, I am most grateful to Jennifer Chung for her love, patience, and encouragement. She is a fabulous thinker and a beautiful human being. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................... .1 Tracing and Revisiting History........... ...6 Vietnamese/Asian American Youth Gangs 11 Gangster Nationalism and Identity Politics .........14 Theoretical Lineages 18 Purpose of Study and Key Research Questions... 21 Significance of the Study ..23 CHAPTER 2 VIETNAMESE IN THE U.S. POLITICAL ECONOMY....... .....25 Contextualizing Empire .....25 War and Migration, ;.. ..29 Vietnamese in the Diaspora. .36 Political Economy of Southern California... ...41 Racialization of Vietnamese Bodies. .........44 Asian Americans and Class Formations............... .46 CHAPTER 3 RACISM, IDENTITY, AND THE RACIALIZATION OF ASIAN AMERICANS....:........... ;;:....... ................: ..52 Situating the Discourse...;.........,...... ..,.52 Racializing the "Gook" .-. ....53 Miles's Notion of Racialization............ ................ ..57 Marxist Project of Theorizing Racism 60 Question of Political Economy.............. ... .,. ..,...., ...65 Problems With "Race Relations" Paradigm 67 Hegemony, Capitalism, and the "Model Minority" : 70 Limits of Asian American Pan^ethnicity 75 CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY 82 Theory as Method '. ....;.......,. 82 Data Sources and History '. : 86 Critical Narrative 90 CHAPTER 5 VIETNAMESE AMERICAN YOUTH GANG NARRATIVES .....:... , .94 Introduction .;........ <...'. 94 P-Dog... .^............ 95 Melo..... ...: 103 Lmh , ..-..., ............. 112 CHAPTER 6 ANALYSIS OF THE NARRATIVES 121 Introduction ,..,.:„....;...;...... 121 Politics of Migration 121 Space and Labor., ...;....... .: .....; 125 Swap Meets, Nail Salons, and Class Conflict 127 vn Contesting the Urban/Suburban Divide .....131 Racialization and Representation 134 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION..... .........146 Deportation and the Question of Citizenship 147 Writing Back/Talking Back..... 150 Humanization. v 151 Educational/Social Policy Implications and Material Consequences 152 WORKS CITED .............; ........; 156 AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY ..: 166 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This research project is on the formation and racialization of Vietnamese/Asian American youth gangs in Southern California. I look specifically at the emergence of "1.5" (migrated to U.S. as toddlers) and second-generation Vietnamese-Chinese youth in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. I attempt to capture a historical moment for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian American gang formation; Why did these gangs emerge at a particular time? Under what social, historical,political, and economic contexts did they emerge? In addition, I alsotry to understand how these youth are racialized—that isi how their bodies are marked and demarcated both as gang members and also as Asian American subjects. Thus, the title, "Reppin' 4 Life," has two meanings. One, it is the manner in which Vietnamese/Asian Americans, like other racialized youth, represent or claim gang membership—anytime, anywhere—regardless of the consequences. Two, I use it to talk about the representation, or rather more specifically, the racialization of Asian American youth historically and in current times. Indeed, it is for life. My work has always been with immigrant poof