Bindi and Class Vid on Immigrant Families

Karen Nguyen

913851333

25 April 2016

Video – Immigrant Families and Resisting Stereotypes

Reading – Laotian Daughters - Bindi V. Shah

The video shown in class reveals case studies of individuals from a few different immigrant families living in the US. Although these young people and their families are different from one another in residence, ethnicity, and such, these immigrant families share general challenges and opportunities in assimilating into American society. First, they aim to integrate themselves and thrive in the face of social expectations, which are presented through historical stereotypes and images of what an immigrant in the US looks like. One girl admits she feels that she is expected to fail and that it’s hard to bust the stereotypes revolving around immigrants. The video shows how critical the stereotype of a “hard-working” immigrant is to the survival of these families. In other words, the film demonstrates how the immigrant families resist the perceived culture and expectations of a “lower-class” “struggling” immigrant. Leisure and romance comes last these individuals who work incredibly hard to not only do well for themselves, but also to resist and prove to both American society and their homeland communities that their immigration did not mean lesser or failure.

In the reading, Bindi addresses how Laotian daughters demonstrate resistance against stereotypes of lowly immigrants and powerless youth. Through legal action, cooperation, education, and exercising the rights of democracy, these young girls are working to rebuild a cultural image. It is important that social justice organizations adopt positions to expand the voice of these immigrants. The interesting aspect in this reading was the emphasis on the children of the immigrants who have to power to educate themselves and educate their parents as well. Personally, as the child of Vietnamese immigrants, I agree with how critical it is for the youth to expend the resources of America in order to give back and improve their communities.