AN ETHNOBURB IN OREGON? VlETNAMESE SETTLEMENT IN SUBURBAN PORTLAND by KYLE EDWARD WALKER A THESIS Presented to the Department of Geography and the Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts June 2005 ii Copyright 2005 Kyle Walker Kyle Edward Walker An Abstract for the Thesis of for the degree of in the Department of Geography to be taken Bachelor of Arts June 2005 Title: AN ETHNOBURB IN OREGON? VJETNAMESE SETTLEMENT IN SUBURBAN PORTLAND Approved: - ....._�--'------­ Dr ardwick iii Many immigrants in recent years have opted against settling in traditional urban ethnic enclaves and chosen instead to reside in suburban locales. Some of these immigrants have formed communities in the suburbs, a phenomenon that geographer Wei Li calls the ethnoburb. Ethnoburbs resemble traditional ethnic communities yet have more linkages to the global and regional economy, and their residents generally have higher socioeconomic statuses than their urban counterparts. In the Portland, OR metropolitan area, both Beaverton, OR and Aloha, OR in suburban Washington County have higher percentages of Asian residents than Portland itself. This thesis examines the Vietnamese communities of Beaverton and Aloha to determine whether they have formed an ethnoburb according to Li's definition. Moreover, the thesis analyzes the impact that the varying "waves" of post-Vietnam War refugee migration have had on settlement patterns in the Portland metropolitan area, and it discusses the multicultural politics of newly diverse suburban communities. iv To Molly, for your love and support ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my most sincere gratitude to Dr. Susan W. Hardwick of the University of Oregon Department of Geography, who oversaw the development of my thesis from the beginning and provided valuable support and resources throughout the thesis process. I'd also like to thank Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake, Oregon Vietnamese Community Association Board Member Elise Ho Tan, Dr. Jeffrey Barlow of Pacific University, Assistant to the Pastor Marcus Saul of the Tualatin Valley Community Church in Aloha, and Mr. Chuong Huynh and Mr. Lee-Po Cha of Portland's Asian Family Center for participating in interviews for this project. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION .......................................................... I I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................. 3 From Saigon to the States ....................................... 3 Resettlement: Adapting to Life in the United States ........ 9 II. REFUGEES AND THE CITY.................................. 13 The Chinatown: Historical Geographies of Urban Immigrants ....................................................... 13 The Ethnoburb: New Geographies of Urban Immigrants ....................................................... 14 Contemporary Patterns of Vietnamese Resettlement. ..... 18 ill. VIETNAMESE AND THE PORTLAND METRO POLIT AN AREA ........................................ 22 Resettlement in Oregon ......................................... 22 Suburbanization of Portland Immigrants ..................... 26 IV. INNER WASHINGTON COUNTY: AN ETHNOBURB IN OREGON? ....................................................... 30 Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Inner Washington County Vietnamese ............................... 35 V. VIETNAM, REFUGEES, AND THE SUBURBAN COMMUNITY ...................................................... 39 VI. CONCLUSION ..................................................... .47 APPENDICES A. MAP OF THE FOREIGN-BORN IN THE PORTLAND METROPOLITAN AREA ............................................. 53 B. MAP, VIETNAMESE AS PERCENT OF POPULATION, PORTLAND METRO AREA .......................................... 55 C. INDUSTRIES WORKED IN, VIETNAMESE LIVING IN BEA VER TON AND ALOHA ...................................... 57 D. ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY, PORTLAND-AREA VIETNAMESE, CENSUS 2000 ....................................... 60 V E. ASIAN POPULATIONS, BY PERCENT AGE OF TOT AL POPULATION, OREGON CITIES OF 40,000 RESIDENTS OR HIGHER .......................................... 62 F. YEAR OF IMMIGRATION, PORTLAND-AREA VIETNAMESE ......................................................... 64 NOTES ................................................................................ 67 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................... 68 vi Oregon, both historically and statistically, has had a relatively small minority population. Robert Kaplan wrote in 1998 that, "[The Pacific Northwest is] one of the last Caucasian bastions in the United States" (61). However, Oregon has recently experienced significant changes in its demographics as well as its cultural landscape. More and more immigrants living in the Portland area have moved out to suburban areas, cities that were quite homogenous as recently as 20-30 years earlier. In this thesis project, I examine the changing identity of the Oregonian suburb as well as the increasingly important role of new immigrants and refugees in American society. To help shed light on these issues, I focus on the Vietnamese communities of Beaverton and Aloha in suburban Washington County as a case study. After the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the United States' Vietnamese population increased dramatically. Whereas there were few Vietnamese in the USA before 1980, Vietnamese-Americans now number more than 1.1 million and experienced the second-largest amount of growth among Asian-American populations during the 1990s (Chico Enterprise-Record 2004). Oregon, and particularly the Portland metropolitan area, has experienced similar growth of its Vietnamese community. In fact, Vietnamese-Americans constitute the largest Asian ethnic group in Portland (Edmonston 2004). These trends are particularly significant outside of the Portland city limits. Both the Washington County suburbs of Beaverton and Aloha have larger Vietnamese populations, percentage-wise, than Portland, and Beaverton boasts the largest percentage of Asians in the state of Oregon relative to its population. Three overarching questions frame this thesis project. The first involves whether the Vietnamese community of inner Washington County is an ethnoburb. Many 2 immigrants in metropolitan areas, like those living in Washington County, have eschewed living in traditional urban enclaves and moved to traditionally homogeneous suburban regions. These communities, which geographer Wei Li refers to as ethnoburbs, are not just "suburban Chinatowns" but instead communities more connected with global and regional economic flows (Li 1999, Kaplan 2004). To answer this question, I will present Li's example of an ethnoburb and then compare the Vietnamese communities of Beaverton and Aloha to that example. The second question deals with the impact that varying refugee histories have had on residential mobility in Portland. Vietnamese arrived in the United States as parts of different "waves" of refugee migration; these waves differed significantly in terms of the socioeconomic status of the refugees who comprised them. The last overarching question addresses the political issues that may or may not accompany the transition of a suburb from a homogenous area to a multicultural one. To answer these questions, this thesis traces the Vietnamese refugee story from the beginning of U.S. involvement in Vietnam all the way to the communities living in Washington County today. Chapter 1 provides the historical background of Vietnamese refugee migration to the United States, and explains the different "waves" of refugees that arrived in the U.S. after the Vietnam War. The second chapter examines how immigrant settlements have evolved from inner-city enclaves to ethnoburb-like communities. Chapter 3 then addresses the history and experiences of Vietnamese refugees in the Portland area. The final three chapters, 4, 5 & 6, take a closer look at the Vietnamese community of Washington County in order to explain why and how Vietnamese refugees have moved to Portland's suburbs. Chapter I: Historical Background From Saigon to the States Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, American involvement in Vietnamese affairs established a linkage between the two countries that ultimately paved the way for Vietnamese refugees and immigrants to enter the United States. For much of the latter half of the twentieth century, the United States adopted an anti-communist foreign policy known as "containment." Containment refers to interventionist action, military or otherwise, in order to prevent the spread of communism over a particular geographic region. Such involvement began during the French occupation of Indochina, as France convinced the United States that their struggle in Indochina was part of the global anti­ communist movement. In fact, the United States by 1953 was funding 80% of France's operations in Indochina (Williams 1992, 11). The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference, both in 1954, effectively brought France's occupation of Indochina to a close (Condominas 1982, Williams 1992). The Geneva conference agreed to divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel, splitting the country between the communist-controlled north and the Western-friendly southern section. The United States maintained a significant presence in Vietnam's southern portion. Communists in the south, however, viewed the South Vietnam government as little more than a puppet regime, and resumed revolutionary action in 1960. The conflict escalated from an internal struggle into a full-blown war between the United States and North Vietnam in 1964 after President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered air 3 strikes over North Vietnam in response to an alleged attack on an American vessel by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin (Williams 1992, 13). 4 Conflict in Vietnam continued for the next decade, costing the Jives of thousands of American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese. As the war progressed, the futility of the American campaign became increasingly clear. After taking office in 1969, President Richard Nixon began a policy of "Vietnarnization" of the war, which referred to allowing the South Vietnamese to take control of most military operations (Williams 1992). Such policy led to the eventual complete withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, culminating in March 1973. This withdrawal, however, did not bring peace to the country. North Vietnamese forces launched an offensive into South Vietnam in 1974, and by April 1975, when the North Vietnamese captured Saigon, all of Vietnam had fallen under the control of communist forces. Saigon's fall in 1975 set in motion an exodus of refugees, largely from South Vietnam, who had been uprooted by the war or sought to flee the communist government. The United States defines a refugee as follows: A refugee is defmed as a person outside of his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. (US Citizenship & Immigration Services) Many of these Vietnamese had already been relocated during the American campaign, as forced migrations and refugee resettlement were often important parts of American military strategy (Hein 1995, 24). The United States took special responsibility for the livelihood of many of these refugees, especially those who had ties to the South Vietnamese or American governments. Refugee dispersal from Vietnam to the United States can be characterized by three general "waves" of movement. The first wave consisted of 125,000-135,000 South Vietnamese, and occurred immediately after the fall of Saigon in 1975 (Hawthorne 1982, Heim 1995). These refugees consisted of wealthy, elite South Vietnamese and others who had ties to the United States. American forces evacuated first wave refugees during the two months immediately following the faIJ of Saigon, and transported them to camps in Guam where their eventually relocation to the United States could be organized (Hitchcox 1990). Reasons for fleeing Vietnam included fear of persecution because of their collaboration with the Americans or a desire not to live in a communist-controlled Vietnam. The United States worked quickly to aid in the resettlement of these refugees (Hawthorne 1982, Hein 1995). The second wave of refugee dispersal from Vietnam differed sharply from the first wave of well-connected South Vietnamese elites. This wave, which began around 1979 and peaked during 1980-1981, consisted of poorer, less-educated Vietnamese who often bribed government officials in order to depart. Refugees in this group were often called the "boat people," as many of them sought to flee the country by boat, hoping to reach refugee resettlement camps in Thailand or Malaysia (Hein 1995). Boat people faced dangerous journeys as they attempted to leave Vietnam, as many of the boats were overcrowded, in poor condition, and lacked food and other necessary supplies. Furthermore, over three-quarters of the boats were attacked at least two times by fishermen or pirates roaming the South China Sea, and many were denied entry at ports where they tried to dock. Many boat people were ethnic Chinese who faced persecution by the Vietnamese government; others were Vietnamese who wished to escape from communist rule. Yen Binh, a Vietnamese girl interviewed by Lesleyanne Hawthorne in Refugee: The Vietnamese Experience, describes the conditions on the boats: [O]n the boat it was very terrible. We thought if we clied it would be better, quickly! Because we couldn't bear it so long. I wanted to clie. On the boat it was very hot. We clidn't have enough air or water, the boat was always breaking down, so all the people said 'If we clie it is better quickly!' (Hawthorne 1982, 247) Close to 600,000 boat people ended up landing at other Asian countries, but estimates of deaths among boat people range up to 150,000 (Hitchcox 1990, Hein 1995). After their arrival in refugee resettlement camps in other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, most second wave refugees desired to relocate to a third country, with the United States as the overwhelming first choice. In order to facilitate refugee relocation, the United States set up programs in the resettlement camps to provide refugees with cultural and English language training (Hein 1995). The third and final wave of Vietnamese refugee migration to the United States began in the early 1980s and continued throughout the early 1990s. During this period, many released political prisoners from re-education camps arrived in the United States. The Vietnamese government had likely detained these prisoners for having collaborated with the United States during the war. Other refugees, who likely fell under the provisions of the Orderly Departure Program or the 1987 Amerasian Homecoming Act, included Vietnamese children of US servicemen, relatives of Vietnamese already in the United States, and former United States employees (Hein 1995, Hitchcox 1990). Ultimately, the United States ended up admitting over one million Indochinese refugees, over three-fifths of whom were Vietnamese. The first wave of Vietnamese immigration G 7 accounted for one-fifth of the refugees, the second wave comprised one-third, and the rest arrived as part of the third wave. State intervention in refugee resettlement caused the Vietnamese relocation experience to be unlike other dispersals in United States history. In order to adequately resettle the large numbers of Indochinese refugees arriving in the wake of the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Federal Government expanded its role in refugee resettlement. In fact, the Federal Government spent an estimated $4.1 billion during the first decade of Indochinese refugee resettlement to aid almost 800,000 refugees (Bach 1988, 39). The first piece of legislation passed in the wake of Saigon's fall was the 1975 Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. This act established a basic program of resettlement and assistance for refugees who had fled Vietnam or Cambodia. In order to establish a more organized program of refugee resettlement, however, the government in 1980 passed the Refugee Act, which repealed the 1975 act. This act established the definition of "refugee" that the government continues to use to this day. Furthermore, the 1980 Refugee Act formed a refugee resettlement program that allowed many Southeast Asian refugees access to government training and assistance programs. These developments gave large numbers of Indochinese refugees the option to eschew low-paying jobs typically available to immigrants (lbid., 40). The Refugee Act, however, also stipulated that federal aid specifically available to refugees would expire at the end of 36 months in the country (Haines 1989, 14). Perhaps most importantly, however, this act firmly defined how the United States could handle refugee resettlement. The bill reads, Authorizes the Attorney General to admit such refugees who are not firmly resettled in a foreign country (and accompanying spouses and children) as permanent residents without first being admitted conditionally. Exempts such admissions from meeting certain other immigrant requirements (labor certification, public charge, immigrant visa, literacy, and foreign physicians). (1980 Refugee Act) Therefore, refugees who fit the bill's definition could settle in the United States without meeting many of the necessary immigration requirements. Immigration legislation intended to assist Vietnamese Refugee Resettlement continued into the 1980s, as third wave refugees began to come to the United States. The 1987 Amerasian Homecoming Act was one of the most important pieces of legislation enabling third wave refugees to migrate. Public outcry over the numbers of children living on the streets in Vietnam fathered by American servicemen during the war led to this act's passage. It stipulated that these children and their immediate relatives could attain refugee status. This program allowed over 23,000 children of servicemen and 67,000 ?f their relatives to immigrate (Heim 1995, Johnson 2002, Lakshmanan 2003). Other third wave refugees, usually those who had been imprisoned since 1975 in communist re-education camps, came to the United States as part of its Orderly Departure Program. This program, established under the Reagan administration in the 1980s, allowed hundreds of thousands of refugees to depart Vietnam, many of whom came directly to the United States (Long 1992). As a result of these waves of refugee migration and government programs, the Vietnamese-American community currently flourishes as one of the United States' most significant minority groups. By the year 2000, the Vietnamese population in the United States had grown to 1.1 million, and experienced a growth of 83 percent during the 1990s, second most among Asian groups in the United States. In fact, the Vietnamese population in the United States ranks fifth amongst all Asian groups, constituting 10.9% of the country's entire Asian population. This rapid growth of the Vietnamese population is quite remarkable considering the relative lack of Vietnamese immigrants in the United States before 1975. Moreover, the Vietnamese-American community can expect even further growth over the next decade according to population projections, due to a burgeoning second-generation of Vietnamese in the United States (Watanabe 2004, Chico Enterprise-Record 2004). These Vietnamese have settled all over the country, with California as the overall preferred choice. Washington, Hawaii, and Texas, however, all have significant populations of Vietnamese residents (Edmonston 2004). Resettlement: Adapting to life in the United States 9 Although Vietnamese refugees enjoyed some advantages when relocating thanks to the 1980 Refugee Act, adaptation to life in the United States has not always been easy. In fact, the experiences of Vietnamese refugees in America often vary as much as their refugee experiences. In the United States, Vietnamese refugees tended to maintain cultural norms as much as possible. Most Vietnamese, upon arrival, preferred to live in predominantly Vietnamese neighborhoods, where they could speak Vietnamese and celebrate cultural festivals such as Tet (the Vietnamese New Year). Many maintained their religious beliefs in the United States as well (Dunning 1989). David Haines (2002) found that Vietnamese families in the United States generally maintain the same family structure in America that they did in Vietnam. Such characteristics include a propensity to delay marriage until later in life and a higher likelihood to live with one's parents at an older age. These findings apply generally to South Vietnamese, however, and Haines admits that the unique situation of Vietnamese refugees may influence these findings. In fact, a study of Vietnamese refugees by Bruce Dunning (1989) found that 41 % of the 10 members of refugees' prior households in Vietnam were separated from the rest of their families, likely still in Vietnam. When looking at recent statistics regarding the Vietnamese-American community as a whole, language skills, income, and education still pale in comparison with other Asian ethnic groups in the United States. For example, less than half of the Vietnamese in the United States speak fluent English. The 1999 median family income of Vietnan1ese-Americans was $47,103, well below that of other Asian ethnic groups such as Indian, Filipino, and Chinese. Moreover, only 19.4% of Vietnamese had earned a bachelor's degree or more (Watanabe 2004). However, when reading these statistics, it is very important to take into account the cultural and socioeconomic differences that exist within the Vietnamese-American community. In many ways, the diversity amongst Vietnamese refugees has had profound effects upon their adaptation experiences. Such variances include cultural and linguistic differences amongst North and South Vietnamese, Vietnamese ethnicity versus Chinese-Vietnamese ethnicity, and differences between first, second, and third wave refugees. Differences amongst Vietnamese refugees are important not only because of their varying experiences but also because of socioeconomic differences between the groups. Many first-wave refugees came from urban areas, were educated, and had professional or military experience. These advantages helped them translate their prior skills into jobs in the American workforce, and helped facilitate learning of the English language. Conversely, many second-wave refugees did not come to the United States with these prior advantages. Many of these refugees were ethnic Chinese who had faced past discrimination in Vietnam, and fled persecution after the triumph of the communist 11 government. Such refugees had little or no educational training, making it much more difficult for them to acquire English language skills. Moreover, second-wave refugees often arrived in the United States with minimal financial resources and carried emotional trauma from their harrowing experiences on the escape boats (Smith 1993). Because English language proficiency correlated with the ability to maintain employment, second-wave refugees face a significant disadvantage in this area. As skills with the English language also help facilitate acculturation into the greater American society, second-wave immigrants may find themselves feeling isolated. Furthermore, first-wave immigrants from Vietnam often do not associate with second-wave immigrants because of their cultural differences. Many Vietnamese organizations are run by first­ wave immigrants and consist solely of other refugees who arrived immediately after Saigon's fall. Partially as a result of this inability to integrate very well within the society at large, second-wave Vietnamese communities have faced problems such as organized crime, domestic abuse, and an inability to find high-paying jobs. Other difficulties faced by the second wave consist are tied to their inability to adapt to American culture, and the growth of a second generation of Americanized Vietnamese children. Some parents often lament the lack of control they have over their children as a result of freedoms in the United States. Though the Vietnamese family structure has often carried over to the United States, Vietnamese parents may struggle (Smith 1993). The Vietnamese-American refugee story is a long and turbulent one, set in motion by United States involvement in Vietnamese affairs during the 1950s and subsequent military action during the Vietnam War. Such historical events led to a mass exodus of refugees from Indochina, many of whom were resettled by new U.S. programs. 12 Adaptation experiences of Vietnamese refugees in the United States have varied significantly, often because of socioeconomic differences between the different waves of Vietnamese refugee migration. Keeping this historical and cultural context in mind, the next chapter focuses on a new type of immigrant settlement, the ethnoburb, and how Vietnamese have settled in the United States. 13 Chapter II: Refugees and the City The Chinatown: Historical Geographies of Urban Immigration Urban areas have historically been popular destinations for immigrants to the United States. In fact, at the beginning of the twentieth century, immigrants to the United States chose overwhelmingly to live in urban areas. Though the US population at this time was largely rural, extremely high percentages of immigrants (for example, 90 percent of Jews, 85 percent of Italians, and 85 percent of Poles) resettled in cities (Kaplan 2004). Most urban immigrants arrived at and settled in a number of "gateway cities." Historically, the most prominent gateway cities have been Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, and San Francisco (Muller 1993). Asian immigrants generally followed similar settlement patterns. The first waves of Asian immigrants were largely Chinese and Japanese who arrived during the early 1900s. Many of these immigrants settled in the West Coast gateway cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. California's Asian­ American population reflects these migrations today, as California alone contains 36 percent of the United States' Asian population (Kaplan 2004). Traditionally, Asian immigrants tended to settle in urban ethnic enclaves sometimes known as Chinatowns. A Chinatown is a traditional urban ethnic neighborhood that serves as a meeting point for recent immigrants. Characteristics of Chinatowns may include ethnic businesses, a common language, and social networks of immigrants from a particular world region. The reasons for the formation of Chinatowns within cities is debatable; Laguerre (2000) argues that whereas common wisdom believes that immigrants have settled in these regions voluntarily, many urban enclaves actually evolved due to racist structural factors that prevented the mobility of immigrants, especially prior to the Civil Rights Act. 14 Whatever their origins, Chinatowns emerged all over the United States in the early part of the 20th century. By 1920, apart from the two most prominent Chinatowns in San Francisco and New York City, Chinatowns had also formed in Los Angeles, Oakland, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, and Boston (Takaki 1994, 31). Though urban enclaves adopted the name "Chinatown" due to the prominence and number of Chinese urban settlements, other immigrant groups, including other Asian groups, had similar residential patterns. Koreatowns, Japantowns, and Manilatowns have emerged across the United States and resemble Chinese urban enclaves (Laguerre 2000). Such ethnic enclaves have evolved to represent a pan-Asian population; that is, a Chinatown will not consist of purely Chinese residents, as Koreans, Japanese, and Southeast Asians may reside there as well (Kaplan 2004). The Ethnoburb: New Geographies of Urban Immigrants More recently, however, many immigrants have opted against settling in traditional urban enclaves or Chinatowns. Across the United States, many immigrants choose to leave the inner city and settle in suburban locales. This trend does not appear to be limited by geography, as suburbs of major cities from California to the South have experienced increases in immigrant populations. fu The New Geography, Joel Kotkin remarks that upwardly mobile immigrants have tended to replace whites in the inner suburbs. ln fact, Kotkin writes, nearly 51 percent of Asians and 43 percent of Latinos live in the suburbs, though in this case Kotkin refers to minorities and not specifically immigrants. The cities that have experienced this trend the most are those with the highest levels of immigration, including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, Houston, and Miami (Kotkin 2001). 15 The American suburb became much more ethnically diverse at the end of the 20th century and in the first decade of the 21st century. Moreover, recent research has shown that immigrants have not only moved to the suburbs in much greater numbers, but have clustered there as well. These immigrants have formed functional communities that in some ways resemble immigrant enclaves but are located entirely in suburban locales. This phenomenon, which geographer Wei Li calls the ethnoburb, forms the main theoretical underpinning of this thesis project. Li defines ethnoburbs as "suburban ethnic clusters of residential areas and business districts in large American metropolitan areas. They are multi-ethnic communities, in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration, but does not necessarily comprise a majority." (1998). Ethnoburbs resemble traditional immigrant communities yet have many distinct differences that merit their separate classification. Like inner city Chinatowns, ethnoburbs have healthy ethnic economies maintained by members of a certain ethnic group. However, these communities also have strong ties to the global economy and serve as functioning outposts in an international economic system (Li 1998). Residents of an ethnoburb may have very different origins and immigrant statuses, with a common language or ethnicity serving as a linking element. Ethnoburbs function as ethnic communities within larger suburbs where immigrants can speak their own language, shop at ethnic supermarkets, read newspapers in their mother tongue, and 16 do business within immigrant networks (Li 1998). Significant geopolitical events and/or changes in U.S. immigration policy often dictate the formation of ethnoburbs. Li notes that Asian ethnoburb formation began after Nixon's visit to China in 1972 and the fall of Saigon in 1975, as both events spurred major waves of immigration from Asia to the United States (1998). Ethnoburbs are more than just residential areas, as they incorporate ethnic businesses where residents of the ethnoburb often work and shop. In fact, ethnoburban residents are more likely to live and work in the same area than other residents (Li 1998). Businesses in an ethnoburb, however, do not just serve the needs of the immigrant community, which provides an important distinction between the functionality of an ethnoburb and that of an inner city immigrant enclave. Workers in ethnoburbs include both highly skilled, high-wage professionals as well as blue-collar workers. Asian Americans living in the suburbs often participate in more highly skilled labor. Many ethnoburban Asians work in the high-tech industry and contribute significantly to the global economy. Joel Kotkin remarks that in the San Gabriel Valley suburbs east of Los Angeles, "Asian-American entrepreneurs have helped spawn over 1,200 computer firms, employing over 5,000 people, with sales well over $3.1 billion" (2001, 105). Even Silicon Valley has felt this trend, as Asians started about 27% of new enterprises in Silicon Valley between 1991 and 1996 (2001). Therefore, suburban immigrants are not just performing low-skill jobs but have taken leadership positions in the high-tech industry. These richer, better-educated ethnoburbans help create a support system in the suburbs that encourages other immigrants to move there. 17 Because immigrants who live in ethnoburbs may have high-paying jobs, they often have high socioeconomic status and education levels as well. Li uses the model of the Chinese community of Monterey Park, a suburb just outside of Los Angeles, to represent typical socioeconomic patterns among ethnoburban residents. Li stresses that Chinese have always strongly valued education, so consequently many of the Chinese in Monterey Park have high education levels. Over 31 percent of the Chinese in Monterey Park had completed at least their bachelor's degree (1998). In fact, these Chinese immigrants had comparatively stronger education backgrounds than other groups in Los Angeles County. Along with higher education levels, immigrants in Monterey Park also earned more money than the average Los Angeles County resident. Although incomes varied among the residents, the average household income of Chinese households was $40,000 (Li 1998). High-skill occupations held by the ethnoburbans contributed to this figure. Furthermore, Chinese in Monterey Park held a fairly high standard of living, as many of these residents owned larger houses than other immigrants and other residents in Los Angeles County. Based on their education levels and socioeconomic status, immigrants in the ethnoburb defy the stereotype of the poor, struggling immigrant. However, despite the relative prosperity of ethnoburban residents, social stratification may exist within the community. According to Li, Chinese from Taiwan and Hong Kong generally had higher socioeconomic statuses relative to the rest of the population, whereas the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum included immigrants from Indochina (1998). Proficiency with the English language may also cause social stratification. Professionals who speak English well have more opportunities to integrate themselves within the white-collar suburban economy, whereas those who struggle with English have fewer employment options to choose from (1998). 18 Suburban communities that house ethnoburbs, however, do not always welcome these successful immigrant communities with open arms. "Traditional" suburban residents, largely consisting of wealthier white Americans, sometimes hesitate to welcome the diversification of their community. Citizens of Monterey Park, in fact, met the growing Chinese population with resistance. After the election of Lily Lee Chen in 1983, the nation's first female Chinese-American mayor, competition amongst Chinese and white interests sometimes evolved into racialized conflicts. For example, Citizens Voice, a Monterey Park newspaper that served white interests, and the Residents Association of Monterey Park distributed propaganda against Chinese candidates for city council, charging that they only served Chinese interests and did not understand democratic principles (Li 1999). fu the 1994 city council election, the racialization of the campaign basically transformed the election into "a referendum on racial change in the city," (1999, 16) which led to the eventual defeat of all three Chinese candidates. Other conflicts arose as well, such as disputes over whether businesses could post signs in only Chinese. However, Monterey Park has made efforts to build a harmonious community, including events aimed specifically at building multicultural tolerance (1999). Contemporary Patterns of Vietnamese Resettlement After the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War, many Vietnamese settled in traditional Chinatowns in many of the United States' urban areas. However, this resettlement had a distinctive ethnic character. Whereas most first-wave refugees were 19 ethnic Vietnamese, many boat people were ethnic Chinese who left due to persecution based on their ethnicity. These ethnic Chinese, not Vietnamese, moved into the traditional Chinatowns during 1979-1981. This migration had interesting implications for the politics of America's Chinatowns. For example, because the Vietnamese came into the country as refugees, they were eligible for financial assistance from the government. This created some tension between the new arrivals and already-established residents, many of whom had difficulty attaining government welfare. However, many of the Vietnamese refugees quickly adapted to life in the United States, due to a work ethic they had forged while enduring the perils associated with their escape from Vietnam (Laguerre 2000). Elsewhere, refugee resettlement programs played major roles in the geography of Vietnamese settlements. In Chicago, many Vietnamese were placed in the Uptown area of the city, because of the presence of social service agencies and easy access to transportation lines. Moreover, refugee resettlement agencies sought to create communities of refugees to provide support for one another; Jackiewicz and Pfeifer (2000) remarked that "[r]esettlement officials believed a concentrated enclave of refugees would allow for a collective sharing of mutual aid and social support, easing the emotional trauma and material difficulties associated with adjustment." (12). However, this settlement faced a number of problems, including crime and poor housing conditions. Despite these difficulties, by 1990 the geographic distribution of Vietnamese immigrants still resembled original refugee placement decisions (2000). Vietnamese communities in Philadelphia followed similar patterns of resettlement based on the decisions of refugee assistance programs. However, poor living conditions 20 and violence against Vietnamese people caused a shift in residential patterns. By the early 1990s, original resettlement sites had become less attractive to Vietnamese, and the Vietnamese population became much more dispersed throughout the Philadelphia metropolitan area. In fact, many Vietnamese have moved to relatively wealthy areas or older, middle class sections of the city (Jackiewicz 2000). Throughout the country, Vietnamese communities have reflected this dispersal as they have adjusted to life in the United States. In fact, a number of Vietnamese suburban settlements have emerged around some of the United States' major urban areas. "Little Saigon," a Vietnamese community of around 40,000 located in Westminster, Orange County, California, stands out as the United States' most prominent suburban Vietnamese settlement. Westminster has become a focal point for many Vietnamese who resettled elsewhere but sought out a community of Vietnamese like Little Saigon. In Westminster, residents can watch Vietnamese-language programming and read one of the 20 Vietnamese newspapers that circulate in the area. Although many Vietnamese in Little Saigon run successful businesses or work in the technology industry, others have failed to find their niche due to their inability to speak English (Economist 1991). Another prominent Vietnamese suburban community has formed outside of Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Virginia. This settlement has a similar ethnic character to Westminster; one can watch Vietnamese-language television and read newspapers in Vietnamese, and Vietnamese shops and restaurants dot the cultural landscape (Economist 1992). Such suburban Vietnamese settlements may have very prominent political views, especially toward the political situation back in Vietnam. As most Vietnamese came to 21 the United States as refugees fleeing persecution from Ho Chi Minh's government, political views are decidedly anti-communist. One such example of political mobilization in Vietnamese-American communities occurred in 1999, when a shopkeeper in Westminster's Little Saigon made national news for hanging a picture of Ho Chi Minh and a Vietnamese flag in his shop. The local media denounced him as a traitor, angry mobs harassed his family, and he received an eviction notice from his landlord. Truong Van Tran, the shopkeeper, insisted that he only hung the picture in order to help normalize Vietnamese-American relations with Vietnam. Political manifestations like this show that many of the Vietnamese settlements in the United States have maintained a very activist character (Foote 1999). Early waves of Asian immigration largely consisted of Chinese and Japanese who settled in inner city "Chinatowns," where they created ethnic communities within the urban landscape. However, immigrants have recently become more mobile, and have begun to form ethnic communities located in the suburbs, called ethnoburbs. Vietnamese have followed these trends of immigration and settlement, but refugee resettlement programs played important roles in the location where they have settled. Such communities have formed in the suburbs, with notable examples of Westminster, CA, and Arlington, VA. The next chapter examines how these trends of Asian and Vietnamese immigration and resettlement apply to Portland, Oregon. It also provides an introduction to the Vietnamese community located in Portland's western suburbs. 22 Chapter III: Vietnamese and the Portland Metropolitan Area Resettlement in Oregon Oregon played a major role in the resettlement of Vietnamese immigrants after the Vietnam War. In fact, despite its relatively small population, Oregon's Vietnamese population of just over 18,000 ranks fifth among U.S. states (Edmonston 2004). Of these 18,000 Vietnamese-Oregonians, almost 17,000 live in the Portland metropolitan area, with 10,641 within the Portland city limits. (Edmonston 2004, Chuang 2001). Portland reflects the trend regarding the influx of Vietnamese immigrants to the United States, as its Vietnamese population constitutes the largest Asian ethnic group in the area, making up 8.7% of Portland's total foreign-born population (Lotspeich 2003). Moreover, Vietnamese accounted for 14 percent of all new immigrant arrivals to the metropolitan area during the 1990s (Edmonston 2004). A number of Portland-area organizations have assisted in the resettlement of Vietnamese in the Portland metropolitan area, which accounts for part of the reason that Oregon's Vietnamese population is higher than the national average. Organizations such as Portland's Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) and Sponsors Organized to Assist Refugees (SOAR) have played a large role in the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees after 1975. IRCO formed in 1975, when two Southeast Asian refugee resettlement organizations merged in order to meet the needs of entering refugees. In fact, largely because of IRCO' s support, 90 percent of newly arriving refugees elect to remain in the Portland area due to the support it provides (Edmonston 2004). 23 Vietnamese refugees also came to Oregon because of support from local government and religious officials. Former Senator Mark Hatfield was instrumental in helping establish Oregon as a refugee-friendly community. Because he spent much of his political career in opposition to the Vietnam War, Sen. Hatfield felt a personal responsibility to ensure that Vietnamese could settle comfortably in Oregon (Chuang 2001). Catholic churches in the Portland area also helped bring Vietnamese refugees to Oregon. Portland Catholic organizations, led by Father Morton Park, were instrumental in arranging both living accommodations and jobs for Vietnamese refugees upon their arrival in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Barlow 1997). Furthermore, many Vietnamese residents in the Portland area originally settled elsewhere but moved to Oregon because of employment opportunities. In the May 29, 2001 Oregonian, Jeff MacDonald, development director of IRCO, commented that much of Oregon's large Vietnamese population came to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s during the large waves of refugee migration from Vietnam. These refugees subsequently moved to Oregon from California and other states due to ample employment in the Portland area. This "echo" migration contributed to Oregon's Vietnamese population beyond just the people who moved from Vietnam. Toward the end of the third wave of Vietnamese refugee migration in the 1990s, a number of family members of Oregonian Vietnamese arrived in the United States to rejoin their families. In fact, 63 percent of Vietnamese women in the Portland area arrived during this time (Edmonston 2004). Many Vietnamese-Americans have also begun to raise families in Oregon, contributing to a rising population of second-generation Vietnamese-American Oregon residents (Chuang 2001). 24 Just like the examples of Philadelphia and Chicago, refugee resettlement agencies helped dictate the primary residential patterns of Portland's Vietnamese community. Susan Hardwick writes, "In the Portland metropolitan area, as in many other cities in the United States, the emergence of the earliest clusters of refugee settlement were often the results of decisions made by non-ethnic networks overseen by political and social service decision-makers." (2005, 17). These communities shared a number of important characteristics: affordable housing, proximity to social service providers, and easily accessible public transportation. Moreover, Portland resettlement agencies such as IRCO placed a high priority on keeping Vietnamese groups together, in order to ease the transition into American society (2005). Aside from refugee resettlement agencies, the Catholic Church of Portland helped dictate the primary residential patterns of the Vietnamese. Many Vietnamese originally settled near Sandy Boulevard, due to its proximity to Portland's archdiocese (Barlow 1997). The majority of Vietnamese immigrants in the Portland metropolitan area live within the Portland city limits. The census tracts containing high levels of Vietnamese are located primarily in Eastern Portland, in the area contained by Killingsworth Street NE, Holgate Boulevard SE, 51 st Avenue, and 96th Avenue. In these tracts, Vietnamese make up between 5 and 8 percent of the total census tract population (Lotspeich 2003). These residential patterns reflect both placements by resettlement agencies and proximity to Vietnamese cultural landmarks. For example, east Portland's IRCO-affiliated Asian Family Center, as well as Vietnamese churches and temples, connect many Vietnamese in the Portland area (Hardwick 2005). 25 Refugee resettlement experiences in the Portland area for many Vietnamese varied largely based upon the "wave" of refugee migration they belonged to. The first wave of migration to Portland was largely Catholic, and many immediately found a connection with the Catholic community that helped bring them to Oregon. Churches in the Portland area helped establish Indochinese refugee centers, and assisted with the cultural adjustment of the Vietnamese. However, these advantages usually were reserved for the first wave of refugees. The second wave of refugees who arrived in Portland was largely Buddhist, and did not have the advantage of a religious community waiting for them in the United States (Barlow 1997). Differences in adaptation experiences between the two major waves of Vietnamese migration also varied due to factors other than religion. First-wave refugees came into'the United States with marked financial advantages and skill sets that transferred much more easily to the American workforce. Though their situation still was not desirable due to the fact that they left Vietnam as part of a forced migration, their prior experience gave them marked advantages. Many first wave refugees spoke French, English, or both, helping them get good state-level jobs upon arriving in the United States. Most second-wave refugees, however, did not have these advantages, and also carried with them the harrowing experiences that accompanied leaving Vietnam by boat (Barlow 1997, Personal Interview 2005). Residential stratification occurred amongst the different waves of Vietnamese refugees in Portland as well, partially due to the differences discussed above but also because of timing. First-wave refugees generally occupied better urban locations than second-wavers, who had to settle for whatever they could find. Moreover, as many 26 second-wave refugees were ethnic Chinese, some of these refugees came into conilict with the pre-existing Chinese community in Portland. In Chapter 2 I discussed how tensions sometimes arose between ethnic Chinese and Chinese-Vietnamese in Chinatown areas of American cities. Portland experienced some of these same problems, with conilicts occasionally erupting into violence. In fact, some second-wave youth joined gangs in Portland. Conflict also arose between first and second wave refugees, though such tensions have settled down significantly (Barlow 1997, Personal Interview 2005). Cultural adaptation to the Portland area proved difficult for both waves of Vietnamese, but those coming in the first wave had a much easier time adapting due to both economic advantages and the presence of a Catholic community to help them integrate. In fact, many first-wave refugees inter-married with other races in the Portland area, as many mixed-race families can be found at the Catholic churches around Portland. Second-wave refugees largely have not mixed, however, and found the urban lifestyle quite different from the rural lifestyle they were used to. One such example of a difference in cultural norms involved a Vietnamese person caught shooting ducks in a city pond in Portland, as he did not understand why Americans would not hunt the ducks in that context (Barlow 2005, Personal Interview.) Suburbanization of Portland Immigrants Despite the substantial concentrations of Vietnamese and other Asian immigrant groups in the Portland area, many groups have begun to move to suburban regions. The county most affected by this trend is Washington County, with the Beaverton area and Hillsboro figuring most prominently. In fact, the Asian population makes up 10-25 percent of some census tracts in these areas (Lotspeich 2003, see Appendix A). 27 Li remarks that ethnoburbs often lie in close proximity to high-tech industry, and that its residents find jobs within the technology sector (1998). Washington County provides a striking example of a potential ethnoburb, with high numbers of immigrant residents as well as prominent high-tech industrial opportunities. In fact, over half of Portland's high tech industry can be found in Washington County, as this region has adopted the name of "Silicon Forest." (Abbott 2001). Prominent firms within the region include NEC, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard. Moreover, Nike's world headquarters resides in the Beaverton-Aloha area. Washington County's business landscape has developed to the point where it has become less of a suburb and more of a self-supported community. In 1990, almost 61 percent of Washington County residents held jobs within the country rather than commuting into the city. This statistic for Portland's other suburban county, Clackamas County, was only 46 percent (Abbott 2001.) An increase in the Asian population of Washington County accompanied the boom of high-tech industry during the latter half of the twentieth century. In Greater Portland: Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest, Carl Abbott describes the suburbanization of many Asian immigrants in Portland, and their participation within Washington Country industry: Firms that depend on Japanese and Korean managers and investors have helped enhance the ethnic/immigrant dimension of the industrialized Sunset Corridor. Washington County--­ particularly in the Beaverton area---houses a modem version of nineteenth-century immigrant communities. Foreign-born technicians and engineers are an important part of the high tech labor force. So are the East Asian immigrants who staff Silicon Forest chip plants. The county's Asian population shot from 5000 to 14,000 during the 1980s. Inner Washington County now has important concentrations of Korean, Viemamese, and other Asian American business and institutions (Abbott 2001, 111) 28 Abbott's description of Washington Country's evolution with regards to its immigrant population bears a striking resemblance to Li's ethnoburb definition. Asian communities have maintained their traditional characteristics, as Abbott notes when he compares them to "nineteenth-century immigrant communities," but they also play an integral role within the county's industry. He adds that Beaverton hosts a pan-Asian market that recalls the multinational flair of Singapore. Abbott also comments on the prominence of Vietnamese in the Beaverton area, which includes Aloha (2001). In fact, significant numbers of Vietnamese have begun to form an ethnoburb-like community in this area. Beaverton and Aloha exhibit a number of characteristics consistent with the ethnoburb model. According to a map of Vietnamese as percent of population in the Portland Metropolitan Area, Aloha falls into the highest category, which includes cities where two'percent or more of the total population is Vietnamese (see Appendix B). The map shows Aloha as the area with the most significant concentration of Vietnamese in all of Washington County. Population data from the 2000 U.S. Census confirm this map's findings, as Aloha's Vietnamese population of 922 ranks third in the state in terms of percentage of the city's overall Asian population. In fact, according to Census data, over five percent of Oregon's entire Vietnamese population resides in Aloha (Chuang 2001). Beaverton also shows similar characteristics typical of an ethnoburb, as its Asian population of nearly 10 percent eclipses that of Portland. Although Vietnamese are not the largest Asian group in Beaverton like they are in Aloha, they still comprise a significant portion of the city's Asian population with over one thousand residents. Oregon's Vietnamese community has experienced much of the turmoil consistent with the rest of the country's Indochinese refugees. However, many different factors 29 have helped create Oregon and the Portland area as ideal places for refugees to resettle. Immigrant resettlement agencies such as IRCO, the Catholic Church of Portland, and politicians like Mark Hatfield helped bring Vietnamese to Portland and assisted with their adaptation. However, such adaptation experiences differed greatly among the first and second wave refugees. Recently, more and more immigrants have moved out to the Washington County suburbs on the west side of Portland, where high-tech businesses flourish in an area nicknamed the "Silicon Forest." Washington County, in fact, provides similar conditions to those described by Li in her articles about the ethnoburb. Chapter 4 compares the Vietnamese communities of Beaverton and Aloha to the ethnoburb model to determine whether they can be considered ethnoburban communities. The chapter also provides a closer look at the demographic characteristics of the suburban Vietnamese in comparison with their counterparts who live within the city of Portland. - ·---�- 1_- -~__111_,_LJ Chapter IV: Inner Washington County: An Ethnoburb in Oregon? As Washington County has grown in population over the past two decades, its multicultural population has grown along with it. The presence of a significant Vietnamese population in Portland's western suburbs raises a number of particularly compelling questions in respect to the preceding chapters. These questions include whether the Vietnamese in Washington County have formed an ethnoburb-like community, and how the socioeconomic characteristics of suburban Vietnamese may differ from other urban immigrants and refugees. In order to determine whether the Vietnamese population in Washington 30 County meets the criteria to be considered an ethnoburb, it helps to review Li's ethnoburb definition 'and compare it with socioeconomic data from Beaverton and Aloha. Li notes that ethnoburbs are "suburban ethnic clusters of residential areas and business districts in large American metropolitan areas. They are multi-ethnic communities, in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration, but does not necessarily comprise a majority" (1998). Population statistics for both Aloha and Beaverton indicate that Asian groups constitute significant minorities in their respective areas. Aloha provides interesting census statistics when looking at its Southeast Asian population. Of the 6,203 foreign-born residents of Aloha, which make up fifteen percent of Aloha's total population, 2,407 came from Asia. Among these Asians, 1,639 entered from Southeast Asia. Vietnam, with 949i, provides easily the most residents among the Asian minorities, but significant numbers of Alohans have roots in Laos and Cambodia as well. Such data is interesting because despite Aloha's suburban location, the greatest -- � . �-- '_ -----·� numbers of its Asian immigrants came from areas that traditionally represent lower­ income immigrants (US Census 2000). 31 Beaverton also shows evidence of a significant Asian minority, albeit with less of an emphasis on the Vietnamese population. 18.4% of Beaverton's residents, or 14,005 people, were born outside of the United States, with over half entering during the last decade. Asians, numbering 7,349 residents or 9.7% of Beaverton's total population, constitute a significant minority considering Beaverton's suburban location. The largest Asian groups in the area are Asian Indian, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, each numbering over 1,000 (US Census 2000). Both Beaverton and Aloha have significant Asian minorities who have had impacts upon each community. However, when comparing these communities to Wei Li's ethnoburb model, it is important to consider her original case study of Monterey Park, CA. According to the 2000 Census, 61.8% of Monterey Park's population is Asian, with 41.2% of its population defining itself as Chinese. These statistics appear staggering in comparison with those of Washington County, despite the Oregon county's diversity. In light of the demographic disparity between Beaverton/ Aloha and Wei Li's ethnoburb model of Monterey Park, inner Washington County cannot be considered an ethnoburb in the same class of Monterey Park. However, it is important to consider the context of the situation before dismissing a comparison to Li's ethnoburb model altogether. One such factor that must be considered when examining Washington County in comparison with Monterey Park is Oregon's relative lack of diversity compared to Southern California. According to the 2000 Census, 86.6% of Oregon's population self­ identified as "white." By comparison, of the six counties that comprise the Southern California Association of Governments (Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Imperial, San Bernardino, and Riverside), 38.85% of the population identified themselves as white. Moreover, Monterey Park's county, Los Angeles County, has no majority ethnic group (http://www.scao.ca.oov/census/). 32 The fairly recent diversification of the Beaverton area also renders the immigrant community quite significant. Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake remarked that the city was quite homogenous before the 1980s, when a large number of Asians moved into the area (2005, Personal Interview). Population statistics confirm his observations, as in 1960, less than 0.3 percent of Beaverton's population consisted of minorities; in 2000, this percentage had risen to above 20 percent ("Beaverton Demographic Profiles: 1960 - 2000"). Inner Washington County's Asian population also draws significance from comparisons with Portland's respective Asian community. Both Aloha and Beaverton have higher percentages of Asian residents than Portland, whose Asian population constitutes 6.3% of its total population (US Census 2000), and Beaverton's Asian population is the highest, percentage-wise, in Oregon (see Appendix E). Therefore, despite smaller populations of immigrants in comparison to other ethnoburb-like areas, inner Washington County's Asian population is quite significant for the state of Oregon. Li's description of an ethnoburb, however, is not limited to population size. She characterizes ethnoburbs not only by the presence of a significant community of immigrants, but also a different kind of immigrant who may live there. The settlement described by Li includes an upwardly mobile class of immigrant, whose jobs are much more connected to global and regional economic flows, mixed among other blue-collar workers who may run ethnic businesses. Li also states that ethnoburban residents have --- . -- - --- ___ _I_J 33 distinct impacts upon the suburban landscape, which may include these ethnic businesses but also other institutions important to the immigrant community. Inner Washington County fits Li's model in both of these ways. Many Asian residents of Washington County, including Vietnamese, work at the high-tech plants that have located themselves in Beaverton and Aloha. Elise Ho Tan, the treasurer and a board member of the Oregon Vietnamese Community association and who lives in Beaverton, remarked that the connections between the Vietnamese community of inner Washington County and the area's high tech industry are quite significant: "I believe the main factors contributing to the Vietnamese choosing Washington County as a place to live are jobs created by big firms like Nike, Intel, Tektronix, etc ... au situated in Washington County." (2005, Personal Interview). Mayor Drake agreed with Ho Tan, stating that many of the Beaverton area's Asian residents work professionally at the high-tech plants. Demographic statistics back up these assertions about the involvement of inner Washington County Vietnamese in high-tech industry. The 5% sample of the 2000 Census as accessed by the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)ii population database returned 81 residents who identify their ancestry as Vietnamese, live in the Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs)iii that incorporate Aloha and Beaverton, and reported their profession on the Census. Of this sample, 29 residents, or 35.8% of the sample, work in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing, communications, audio, and video equipment manufacturing, or electronic component and product manufacturing (see Appendix 3). These industries employ significantly more Vietnamese than any other industry in the Aloha and Beaverton PUMAs. Workers in 34 these industries represent a diverse array of jobs. While twelve of the twenty-nine samples work directly with manufacturing, others are computer programmers, engineers, customer service representatives, and product testers ( IPUMS, 2004t. Mixed among these high-tech workers in the inner Washington County community, however, are many Vietnamese who work instead in ethnic businesses and have influenced the suburban cultural landscape. Commercial activity in Aloha, OR, is largely focused on the Tualatin Valley Highway, as well as a center at the intersection of 185th and Baseline Rd. These commercial areas include Vietnamese and other Asian businesses. The Baseline Center in Aloha incorporates a number of different Asian businesses and restaurants, two of which are Vietnamese. One of the businesses is a restaurant named Pho Hoai, which opened at the end of 2004 and serves Vietnamese cuisine. KH Video, a Vietnamese vendor, is located at the other end of the shopping center. This vendor, which sells both cell phones and videos, is particularly interesting because all of the signs and movies in the store are in Vietnarnese. Another Vietnamese-themed business, the Viet-Thai market, is located on the TV Highway in Aloha. This store sells a diverse collection of Vietnamese and Thai foods, as well as other various items imported from Southeast Asia. The presence of these highly visible businesses indicates both the ability of Vietnamese to start and sustain ethnic businesses in the suburbs, but also demonstrates a real demand for Vietnamese cultural and language services in inner Washington County. Moreover, many nail salons are located along the TV Highway in Aloha. Though there is no direct indication from the salons that these are Vietnamese businesses, Elise Ho Tan remarked that a number of Vietnamese in Aloha and Beaverton staff similar businesses (2005, Personal Interview). 35 Ethnic cultural institutions also serve as potential markers of the impact that suburban immigrants make upon communities. The Aloha Vietnamese Baptist Church serves as one such example. Pastor Due Huynh founded the church in the mid-1990s, and the parish currently holds a membership of over 100 Vietnamese parishioners. The church draws Vietnamese from all over Washington County, and the majority of the parishioners come from the western suburbs and not from the city of Portland. The church serves as a cultural outpost for many Washington County Vietnamese, where they can participate in church activities in their native language (Saul 2005, Personal Interview). Vietnamese also gather in inner Washington County for cultural celebrations aside from the church, including one held by the Vietnamese community in Beaverton each year (Drake 2005, Personal Interview). Aside from cultural institutions like the Aloha Vietnamese Baptist Church, prominent members of the Portland-area Vietnamese community also live in inner Washington County. For example, the OVCA is based out of Aloha because its founder, Bac-ai Nguyen, lives there (Ho Tan 2005, Personal Interview). Socioeconomic characteristics of the Inner Washington County Vietnamese Along with the impacts made on the suburban cultural landscape, Li remarks that ethnoburban residents often have high education levels and high socioeconomic statuses. According to JPUMS data, the Vietnamese community of inner Washington County fits this model. The average education level for the Vietnamese residents aged 18 and over 36 of the PUMAs that include Aloha and Beaverton, according to Census coding, is 10.74. For reference, a response of" 1 0" means that the responder has completed a high school diploma or a GED, and "11" refers to some college completed, but no degree received. Such data shows that many Vietnamese residents in the suburbs have received university education. Similar data from Portland renders the information from Washington County even more important. The average education level for the same sample in Portland is 9.37, where "9" represents 12th grade, no high school diploma. Though such education data varies amongst the population, the IPUMS data does indicate that suburban Vietnamese, like ethnoburban residents described by Li, do have higher education levels on average than the rest of the urban population. The Vietnamese population of inner Washington County also corresponds to the ethnoburb'model in terms of personal income. The samples used to attain this data are the same as those used in the education comparison minus the respondents who reported no income. According to IPUMS data, the average income of Vietnamese living in the Aloha and Beaverton areas is $32,032. This figure greatly eclipses that of its counterpart in Portland, where the average personal income of Vietnamese residents is $18,918v. These statistics regarding Aloha's Vietnamese back up Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake's assertions about his community, as he remarked that the Beaverton area includes many well educated people of color (Personal Interview 2005). Ability to speak English proficiently also helps immigrants assimilate into suburban communities. Li (1998) and Smith (1993) write that differences in English language ability may cause social stratification in urban areas and even in ethnoburbs. Those living in the suburbs that possess more advanced English skills can move beyond 37 traditional immigrant niche jobs into higher-wage, higher-skill jobs like those in the technology sector (Li 1998). Elise Ho Tan agreed that English language proficiency, as well as education, is important for qualifying a refugee for a better job (2005, Personal Interview). Statistical analysis of English proficiency among Vietnamese using IPUMS data from the 2000 Census shows a difference between the Vietnamese that live within the Portland city limits and those who have settled in inner Washington County. Census responses for Vietnamese in both Portland and Beaverton/ Aloha show that most Vietnamese have picked up at least some English: only 6.6% of Vietnamese in the Portland sample and 6.8% in the Beaverton/ Aloha sample reported an inability to speak English. Similarly, however, less than four percent of Vietnamese in both samples reported English as their only language. Of the Vietnamese who speak both Vietnamese and English, respondents answered the question "How well does this person speak English?" with "Very Well," "Well," or "Not Well." In the Portland sample, 20.3% of respondents answered "Very Well," 35.0% of respondents answered "Well," and 35.3% answered "Not Well." For the same question in the Beaverton/Aloha sample, respondents indicated a general greater proficiency with the English language. 34.1 % of these respondents answered "Very Well," 36.4% responded with "Well," and only 19.3% of the Beaverton/ Aloha sample answered "Not Well." These statistics indicate that in general, suburban Vietnamese residents fit Li's ethnoburb model in terms of English proficiency (see Appendix D). Population statistics and interviews with prominent member of the inner Washington County community show that the Vietnamese community, in comparison --- - - - - --�--- ,_ ----_J_J It ' 38 with Portland, does indeed fit Wei Li's definition of an ethnoburb. Vietnamese in Beaverton and Aloha work in the high tech industry more frequently than any other industry, have higher levels of education than their Portland counterparts, make comparatively more money, and have less trouble with the English language. Although the Vietnamese population in Washington County is relatively low in comparison with other ethnoburban areas like Monterey Park, CA, its population is significant given Oregon's relative lack of diversity in comparison with California. Moreover, Beaverton and Aloha each have higher percentages of Asian residents than the city of Portland, which shows that inner Washington County has a distinct ethnoburban character in comparison with the rest of the metropolitan area. Such statistics, however, only provide one part of the story of inner Washington County's Vietnamese. The next chapter examines the impact that the varying refugee histories of first and second wave Vietnamese has had on their residential mobility. I also explain what factors have helped enable Vietnamese to settle in Portland's western suburbs. Finally, Chapter 5 examines whether significant political issues have arisen in Beaverton and Aloha in response to the arrival of Vietnamese and other Asian immigrants. Exploration of such issues will help explain the implications of the suburbanization of Portland's immigrant community. 39 r V: Vietnam, Refugees, and the Suburban Community Vietnamese refugees in the United States experienced highly diverse experiences ing from Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Many refugees have now moved out ban locales and established comfortable lifestyles after having left everything n Vietnam when they fled the country. Such a transition is rather remarkable ing the adverse conditions faced by Vietnamese when they migrated to Oregon Jnited States. Despite the many Vietnamese who have moved out to the suburbs 1ed an ethnoburb-like community, others remain within Portland, occupying jitional immigrant residences. The presence of a significant number of ese in inner Washington County raises a number of questions about their identity impact upon the community. To shed light on these issues, this chapter will he differences between the residential mobility of first and second wave :!Se, the reasons why Beaverton and Aloha have been attractive destinations for 1ts, and the immigrants' impacts upon the suburban community. s discussed in Chapter 4, first-wave Vietnamese refugees entered Oregon with a 1ber of advantages compared to the refugees who comprised the second wave. antages might imply that first-wave Vietnamese would likely have more .ties to move out to suburban locations. According to IPUMS data, a 1tly higher percentage of the Vietnamese living in Aloha and Beaverton arrived � first wave than those who live in Portland. 20.5 percent of the averton IPUMS sample arrived in the United States in 1975, indicating that over :he inner Washington County Vietnamese are first-wave immigrants. 40 Moreover, no other year of immigration comprises more than eight percent of the sample. Statistics for Portland, on the other hand, show a much lower percentage of first-wave Vietnamese living within the city. Only 5.9 percent of Portland's Vietnamese community arrived in the United States in 1975. Another noteworthy statistic is the raw data for 1975 arrivals in both samples: 18 of the 88 Vietnamese in the Aloha/Beaverton sample arrived in 1975, whereas only 19 of the 320 in the Portland sample marked 1975 as their year of immigration. Despite inner Washington County's comparatively smaller Vietnamese population, its number of first-wave refugees is nearly identical (see Appendix F). However, before drawing any conclusions based on this data, it is important to recognize the limitations of looking at statistics to answer questions about first and second-wave residential mobility. Despite Aloha/Beaverton's relatively high percentage of first-wave immigrants, such statistics merely parallel the overall character of Vietnamese refugee migration to the United States. In total, the first wave comprised one-fifth of this migration nationally. Moreover, many Vietnamese have diverse histories that cannot be captured completely by statistical data. Elise Ho Tan, the representative of the Oregon Vietnamese Community Organization who I interviewed, is one example of a suburban Vietnamese resident who does not fit neatly within a "first or second-wave" category. She was born in Paris, France to Vietnamese parents, and then came to the United States in 1973 for college. Other Vietnamese like Ho Tan may have migrated originally to other countries, then arrived in the United States later on; population data do not capture these variances. Ho Tan, however, agreed that the wave of migration has had an impact on residential mobility in Portland. When I asked her about this issue, she responded: 41 I was shared the fact that the first wave of refugees consisted a lot of "the cream of the top", those with the knowledge, the means and the opportunity to leave right away. That first wave would be more apt to move to Washington County because of its progressive background and attitude. My assumption is that the second wave, being more culturally traditional, would rather stay around the Portland area, where the way of life remains very Vietnamese due to its concentration of Vietnamese families and shops. However it's safe to say there is a bit of a mixture everywhere. (2005, Personal Interview) Her remark that "there is a bit of a mixture everywhere" holds true when looking at the IPUMS samples for both inner Washington County and Portland. The remainder of the Vietnamese in the Aloha/Beaverton sample arrived throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and the most significant numbers of Portland's Vietnamese came to the United States in the mid-l 990s. Many of these Vietnamese could even represent third-wave refugees who arrived later to rejoin their families in the United States. The fact that there is a mixture of first and second-wave Vietnamese in Washington County means that refugee status and time in the United States alone do not dictate residential patterns. In fact, many social and economic factors have driven Vietnamese and other Asian groups to relocate to Beaverton and Aloha. For many Vietnamese, the decision to relocate to Washington County has largely been an economic one. According to many of the people I interviewed, the large business and technology firms are the chief reason that many Vietnamese have moved to Beaverton and Aloha. According to Chuong Huynh, the Parent and Family Program Coordinator at Portland's Asian Family Center, immigrants began to move out to Washington County about ten years ago because of the employment opportunities in the area (2004, Personal Interview). Elise Ho Tan echoed this assessment, as she remarked, "I believe the main factors contributing to the Vietnamese choosing Washington County - . - ---- • -- _IL_,_I___J 42 as a place to live are jobs created by big firms like Nike, Intel, Tektronix, etc ... all situated in Washington County." (2005, Personal Interview) Lee-Po Cha, director of the Asian Family Center, also agreed that the move of immigrants to the suburbs from inner­ city locations has been driven by economic factors (2004, Personal Interview). Such assertions make sense in light of the population data from Chapter 4, which showed that the most popular jobs amongst Vietnamese in the area were in the high-tech industry. Jobs in technology, however, do not comprise the totality of economic reasons that have encouraged Vietnamese to move out to inner Washington County. Other Vietnamese who do not work at the high-tech plants have started their own businesses in the area with some success. Chuong Huynh remarked that some Vietnamese have moved to Washington County because of opportunities to open small businesses, and Elise Ho Tan added that many of the older generation of Vietnamese in the area are entrepreneurs; owning restaurants, nail salons, or grocery stores. Such entrepreneurship is very visible in inner Washington County, with nail salons and ethnic restaurants frequently dotting the cultural landscape. Available jobs, however, are not the only economic reason driving resettlement of Vietnamese in Washington County, as many have chosen to relocate based on the availability of good housing options. Both Beaverton and Aloha have suitable housing options that have attracted Vietnamese to move to the suburbs. Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake cited the availability of multi-family housing in his city as one of the main reasons that immigrants have decided to relocate to Beaverton (2005, Personal Interview). Such housing would make sense in light of the David Haines (2002) study cited in Chapter 1, which found that many Vietnamese families have maintained their traditional family structure of delaying 43 marriage and living with one's parents until later in life. Aloha provides a further bonus to immigrants starting out in the suburbs, as both Drake and Chuong Huynh remarked that the area provides an abundance of affordable housing. In economic terms, Beaverton and Aloha provide ideal opportunities for immigrants to move to a suburban locale: they have many opportunities for employment in the state's Silicon Forest technology sector, and reasonably-priced housing that makes living in the suburbs financially bearable. Demographic analysis of the inner Washington County Vietnamese showed that they had comparatively better English language skills and higher education levels, on average, than their Portland counterparts. These statistics tie into another reason why Vietnamese have elected to move to Washington County: educational opportunities. Lee­ Po Cha stated that many Vietnamese have left Portland for the suburbs because of a perception of stronger schools outside of the city (2004, Personal Interview). This makes sense given the importance of education within the Vietnamese community. Elise Ho Tan commented that the original Vietnamese refugees have placed a tremendous importance upon their children's education because of the importance of education and English language skills to success in the United States (2005, Personal Interview). To this point, this chapter has addressed reasons why Vietnamese immigrants may have moved from Portland outward to the suburbs: better jobs, better housing, and better educational opportunities. However, not all Asian immigrants in inner Washington County relocated for such economic reasons. Chapter 3 addressed the importance of refugee resettlement organizations and church organizations in Portland in terms of the residential patterns of the Vietnamese community. In fact, the same holds true for Beaverton and Aloha. According to Mayor Drake, many Asian immigrants did not 44 originally come from Portland; instead, they originally settled in Beaverton. Relief organizations and the Catholic Church placed many Vietnamese in inner Washington County to begin with (2005, Personal Interview). Evidently, the relief organizations felt that Beaverton and Aloha were suitable places for some Vietnamese to start out, even those who did not arrive as part of the first wave. Inner Washington County's attractiveness to both immigrants looking to relocate and resettlement organizations may stem from not only the wealth of opportunities available to new residents, but also the welcoming character of the community. When I inquired about why Vietnamese have resettled in Washington County, a recurring theme in my interviews was the progressive character of the area. Elise Ho Tan referred to the "progressive background and attitude" of Washington County residents as a contributing factor to the presence of Vietnamese in the area. Mayor Drake also referenced a high degree of cultural tolerance in the area, and Lee-Po Cha claimed that Portland had the most widely dispersed Asian populations of any city in the United States in part because of a lack of racism amongst the general population (Ho Tan 2005, Drake 2005, Cha 2004, Personal Interviews). Such assertions are quite interesting especially when compared to the Monterey Park example, where ethnoburban residents faced resistance from the white community. In fact, it appears to be completely the opposite in Washington County: I feel that the Vietnamese in Washington County have integrated well within the suburban commuruty. It has been 30 years since the fall of Saigon and within that time, the original Vietnamese have worked and raised families, established ties and friendship at work and or around their neighborhood, thanks to the community and many special people at large extending their hearts and hands to make the transition easier. (Ho Tan 2005, Personal Interview) Ho Tan's assessment of the Washington County community indicates a group of people that not only welcomed the Vietnamese, but also worked with them to make their - �� - ---- . -_ ___ _II __ LJ 45 transition to American life smoother. Mayor Drake attributes these welcoming, progressive attitudes to the level of education in the community. Washington County, which has the highest percentage of college graduates in the state of Oregon, contains a well-educated populace with a "live and let live" mentality toward diversity. Drake added that he feels that citizens of his community, for these reasons, are less likely to fall into racial stereotyping (2005, Personal Interview). Community initiatives in Washington County have also helped foster cultural tolerance in the area. In 1993, Mayor Drake formed the Human Rights Advisory Commission, an ad hoc committee to investigate claims and promote cultural tolerance. Moreover, a human rights ordinance passed last year in Beaverton banned all forms of discrimination. The community has also worked towards greater integration of its Asian members by establishing the Beaverton Resource Center, built with a Community Development Block Grant. One-third of the center comprises the ESL intake center, which provides bilingual services for students in a number of languages, including Vietnamese. The center has saved space so that Asian Family Services can move in (Drake 2005, Personal Interview). Vietnamese have chosen to move to Washington County for a number of pertinent reasons. Employment opportunities in the technology or business sector, affordable housing, and the perception of better educational opportunities have encouraged many Vietnamese to make the move to Beaverton or Aloha. However, not all of the area's Vietnamese originated in Portland, as many were placed directly in the inner Washington County suburbs by resettlement organizations. Moreover, the refugee stories of the Vietnamese living in Beaverton and Aloha are quite diverse. Although a higher ----- . -- � - -- _� - - ______ _I_=_! - - - ----- -- ............ _ 46 percentage of Vietnamese in Washington County came during the first wave than in Portland, there is still quite a mixture in the area. The progressive and welcoming attitudes of Washington County residents have helped attract this diverse mix of refugees, and government programs and facilities have aided the transition process to life in the suburban United States. The past chapters of this thesis have traced the story of Vietnamese refugees all the way from Saigon to Aloha/Beaverton, Oregon, in order to better understand their situation and that of Portland's suburban community. In the following chapter, I synthesize all this information in order to answer the overarching questions guiding this thesis. These questions involve inner Washington County's identity ( or not) as an ethnoburb, the implications of the differing refugee waves on residential mobility, and the community politics of the multicultural suburb. 47 Chapter VI: Conclusion The Vietnamese communities of Beaverton and Aloha display many characteristics consistent with the ethnoburb model defined by Wei Li. Chapter 4 explained how Vietnamese living in inner Washington County are likely to work in the area's high-tech industry, a key component of the ethnoburb definition. Moreover, the socioeconomic characteristics of the Washington County Vietnamese correlate with those defined by Li, as they have higher personal incomes, higher levels of education, and stronger English skills, on average, than their counterparts living within the Portland city limits. The Vietnamese community has also impacted the suburban cultural landscape, with the presence of highly visible Vietnamese businesses and cultural institutions. Furtherm9re, Beaverton has the highest percentage of Asians relative to its population in Oregon, eclipsing even that of Portland. The only caveat, however, is population size. In her writings on the subject, Li does not define a particular ethnic population necessary for a community to reach ethnoburb status. She writes instead that ethnoburbs " ... are multi-ethnic communities, in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration, but does not necessarily comprise a majority." (1998). However, the comparison of Monterey Park, CA with Beaverton/ Aloha in Chapter 4 showed a distinct difference in Asian population: 61.8% of Monterey Park's population is Asian, compared to 9.7% in Beaverton. These statistics raise the question of whether or not inner Washington County is, in fact, an ethnoburb. Given the Asian population disparity between Monterey Park and Beaverton/ Aloha, it is not an ethnoburb in the tradition of Monterey Park. However, because Li does not define a specific population percentage necessary to define an ethnoburb, it seems as though ethnoburbs are defined based on their geographical context. Oregon, by all accounts, is much less diverse than Southern California. In Chapter 4, I presented statistics comparing Oregon's white population with Southern Californja: 86.6% of Oregon's population self-identified as "white," whereas only 38.85% of Southern Californians identified themselves this way. I also remarked that Monterey Park's county, Los Angeles County, has no majority ethruc group (http://www.sca2:.ca.oov/census/). 48 Given these statistics, and in light of the fact that Beaverton/ Aloha's Vietnamese population corresponds with Li's socioeconomic definition of ethnoburbs, inner Washington County has become an ethnoburb-like comrnuruty over the last twenty years. I hesitate to call it a full-fledged ethnoburb because of the population gap I defined, but given the context of Oregon's relatively small minority population, it is quite significant that a suburban region has developed the largest Asian community, percentage-wise, in Oregon. The trend cited by Li of upwardly mobile immigrants moving to more affluent communities is occurring in Oregon, to the point where the Asian suburban communities have strongly impacted their surroundings. Many avenues of future research remain to expand upon the findings of this thesis. When researching the possibility of a Washington County ethnoburb, I chose to focus on just one group, the Vietnamese. However, many other Asian groups (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Asian Indian) also live in Portland's western suburbs. Although I hypothesize that all of these groups meet Li's ethnoburb definition as well in comparison with their counterparts in Portland, I cannot say so definitively. Further research on this - - . -- - - --- R_,_._J topic with these other groups in mind would provide a more complete picture of inner Washington County's Asian community. 49 In Chapter 5, I addressed the question of whether the residential mobility of the Vietnamese of the "first wave" of refugee migration differs from that of the second wave. Refugees who fled Vietnan1 as part of the first wave arrived in the United States with many advantages, including higher education levels and better connections to the U.S. government. Second-wave refugees, on the other hand, often did not have these advantages. The Oregon Vietnamese community reflected these differences during the early years of Vietnamese refugee migration, as members of the first wave had a much easier time adapting to life in Oregon. Given these prior advantages, it seemed as though first-wave refugees would be more likely to populate suburban areas. Although more first-wave refugees do live in inner Washington County than in Portland percentage-wise, stating that one wave settled in the suburbs and another settled in the city would be a gross generalization. Elise Ho Tan remarked," .. .it's safe to say there is a bit of a mixture everywhere" (2005, Personal Interview), which is backed up by population data. Today, thirty years after the fall of Saigon, many refugees have adapted well to life in the United States, including some who arrived in the second wave. Moreover, a second generation of Vietnamese-Americans has emerged who are quite mobile and mainstream Americans (Ho Tan 2005, Personal Interview). In terms of Vietnamese residential mobility, the wave of refugee migration is not as important as the characteristics consistent with the first wave of refugees. Because many Vietnamese recognized the advantages of having English proficiency and education, many have sought to attain it in order to succeed in the United States. This ---- . -�-- 1-_ __ _ _II _ __L_J --�----- � .. 50 includes both first and second-wave refugees. Moreover, because Vietnamese refugees recognize the importance of these skills, they have made sure their children have these advantages. Ho Tan commented, "Being aware of the importance of education and language, the original refugees have placed a tremendous emphasis on their children's education." (2005, Personal Interview). Therefore, whereas the waves of migration still hold some importance in terms of residential mobility, their influence has diminished as the second wave has adapted to American culture and a second generation of Vietnamese-Americans has emerged. Because Washington County's minority population has increased significantly within the last twenty years, I also did research on whether this recent shift to a more multicultural community had caused any political issues in the area. In Li's ethnoburb model of Monterey Park, CA, white interest groups mobilized to combat the growing influence of its Chinese population. In comparison, nothing similar has happened in inner Washington County, according to my interviews. Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake, OVCA Board Member Elise Ho Tan, and Asian Family Center Director Lee-Po Cha all cited progressive, welcoming attitudes of Portland-area residents as one of the main reasons why Asian groups, including Vietnamese, have chosen to settle and have had success living in Portland's suburbs. Such responses are very interesting especially because all three of these interviewees represent different perspectives on multicultural issues. Despite their differing perspectives, all agreed that the majority Washington County's community has welcomed diversity. From these interviews, I can conclude that the progressive attitudes of Washington County residents have encouraged immigrants and minorities to settle there 51 and have diminished ethnic tensions in the community. Moreover, these findings are significant in light of the Laguerre (2000) assertion in Chapter 2 that isolated Chinatowns in inner cities formed due to racist structural factors. An ethnoburb-like area with few racial barriers shows a lack of such structural factors in Washington County. However, I do recognize the Asian population gap between Washington County and Monterey Park when making this conclusion. Although inner Washington County is quite diverse for an Oregon community, its minority population still comes nowhere near constituting a majority in the area. In Monterey Park, on the other hand, Chinese alone make up over forty percent of the population. It is possible that some Oregonians would react similarly to the whites in Monterey Park if they too became minorities in their community. My work on this thesis has brought to my attention a number of other research questions that could complement this project. As I remarked earlier, a similar study of other Asian groups in Beaverton and Aloha would provide a more complete description of Portland's suburban diversity. Moreover, a study of suburban Latino residents could augment this project by giving a different perspective on immigration in the suburbs, as Washington County houses a significant Latino population as well. Another avenue of research could involve interviews with a significant number of suburban Vietnamese in order to find out how they feel about the transition to a suburban lifestyle. I also did not examine the role of U.S. citizenship in suburban integration; research on this topic would clarify whether immigrants who have attained citizenship have had more success moving to the suburbs. Moreover, Mayor Drake made an interesting point about how some resettlement organizations have placed Asians directly in Beaverton. Interviews with �- . - - ---- - - _____ _J_J these organizations could help better explain their influence on the suburbanization of Portland's immigrant community. 52 Since the arrival of Vietnamese refugees in Oregon thirty years ago, many Vietnamese have formed an ethnoburb-like community in suburban Washington County. These Vietnamese speak English well, are well educated, and have found jobs within Washington County's technology sector. Although many Vietnamese living in Beaverton and Aloha arrived as part of the first wave of refugee migration, others have moved there as well as a result of their work ethic and emphasis on education. Moreover, the pre-existing community in Washington County has not actively resisted the arrival of new, more diverse residents. These conclusions are encouraging both for the state of ethnic relations in Oregon and the acceptance of the Vietnamese community in suburban Portland. Most Vietnamese who arrived in Oregon after 1975 left everything behind in Vietnam. Today, just thirty years later, many have integrated well into American society and have become successful citizens and residents of the United States. Oregon's welcoming attitudes towards refugees, exemplified by many local politicians, church officials, and community leaders, have helped ease the transition to life in the United States. The story of the Washington County Vietnamese has revealed not only a surprising new pattern of ethnic concentrations in suburban parts of Portland, but also has provided evidence of a refugee group who has rapidly adjusted to life in America. Appendix A: Map of the foreign-born population in the Portland metropolitan area (see Lotspeich 2003) 53 Figure 4. Share of the Tri-County Are:1's Total. Populati.on that Is Foreign-Born. by Ccnrns Tract SotrClr.Census;iJOO 54 - . - - - - I_ �-_Lj 55 Appendix B: Map, Vietnamese as Percent of Population, Portland Metro Area. 56 Vietnamese as Percent of Population, Portland Metro Area · Percentage of Population Vietnamese .,:2.0% .1.5--1.9% 0,5--0.9% 0.1�A% NorthPlal,s Cedar HiNs --;;-h�-:: , ,,--�eaverton Me ' CHON , ·, , Tigar ""> K� C�y �- _ , umam , . ..----:;:J_ - �R;;;,'rg J;, v,;,lrgs 7 ,- liiifualatrn fl. Lodge • ,){ _ _ , • __ Sherwo • :, We Inn \ ) I �r-_J { - -·-,- ··' Wilsonville / Symbol s,ze proportlonat lo 2000 popu\ation. {, - . - - -- �- - _____ _LJ Portland--�- �sna� ·-·· --- "",MlJl.TNOtvl>-H . Happy�!ley ' Oregon City CLACKM.1/\S Appendix C: Distribution of industries worked in of the Beaverton and Aloha Vietnamese. Data accessed from the IPUMS database. 57 - . --- �- ' - - - ._,__LJ 58 Valid Cumulative Industry Freauencv Percent Percent Percent Valid Not specified 1 1.2 1.2 1.2 Construction 1 1.2 1.2 2.5 Bakeries, except retail 2 2.5 2.5 4.9 Textile Product Mills 1 1.2 1.2 6.2 Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing 1 1.2 1.2 7.4 Footwear Manufacturing 4 4.9 4.9 12.3 Paperboard Containers and Boxes 1 1.2 1.2 13.6 Aluminum Production and Processing 1 1.2 1.2 14.8 Machinery Manufacturing 1 1.2 1.2 16.0 Computer & Peripheral Equipment 5 6.2 6.2 22.2 Manufacturing Communications, Audio, & Video 3 3.7 3.7 25.9 Equipment Manufacturing Navigational, measuring, electromedical, 1 1.2 1.2 27.2 and control instruments manufacturing Electronic Product & Component 20 24.7 24.7 51.9 Manufacturing Motor Vehicles & Motor Vehicle 1 1.2 1.2 53.1 Equipment Manufacturing Aircraft and parts manufacturing 1 1.2 1.2 54.3 Not specified manufacturing industries 1 1.2 1.2 55.6 Professional and commercial equipment 1 1.2 1.2 56.8 and supplies Automobile dealers 1 1.2 1.2 58.0 Furniture and home furnishings stores 1 1.2 1.2 59.3 Grocery stores 2 2.5 2.5 61.7 Clothing and accessories, except shoe 1 1.2 1.2 63.0 stores Services incidental to transportation 1 1.2 1.2 64.2 Postal Service 2 2.5 2.5 66.7 Banking and related activities 2 2.5 2.5 69.1 Savings institutions, including credit 1 1.2 1.2 70.4 unions Non-depository credit and related activities 2 2.5 2.5 72.8 Real estate 1 1.2 1.2 74.1 Video tape and disk rental 1 1.2 1.2 75.3 Computer systems design and related 2 2.5 2.5 77.8 services Landscaping services 1 1.2 1.2 79.0 Other health care services 1 1.2 1.2 80.2 Individual and family services 1 1.2 1.2 81.5 Other amusement, gambling, and 1 1.2 1.2 82.7 recreation industries Traveler accommodation 2 2.5 2.5 85.2 Restaurants and other food services 5 6.2 6.2 91.4 Drinking places, alcoholic beverages 1 1.2 1.2 92.6 Beauty salons 1 1.2 1.2 93.8 Nail salons and other personal care 2 2.5 2.5 96.3 services Other general government and support 1 1.2 1.2 97.5 - - - - - - -- • _,_I_J I I I Administration of human resource programs Administration of economic programs and space research Total 81 1.2 1.2 100.0 1.2 1.2 100.0 59 98.8 100.0 I : I I I Appendix D: Census responses about English language proficiency of Portland-area Vietnamese. Data accessed from the IPUMS database. 60 61 English Language Proficiency, Portland PUMAs Valid Cumulative Resoonse Frequencv Percent Percent Percent Does not speak English 21 6.6 6.6 6.6 Yes, speaks only 9 2.8 2.8 9.4 English Yes, speaks very well 65 20.3 20.3 29.7 Yes, speaks well 112 35.0 35.0 64.7 Yes, but not well 113 35.3 35.3 100.0 Total 320 100.0 100.0 English Language Proficiency, Beaverton/Aloha PUMAs Valid Cumulative Response Freauencv Percent Percent Percent Does not speak English 6 6.8 6.8 6.8 Yes, speaks only 3 3.4 3.4 10.2 English Yes, speaks very well 30 34.1 34.1 44.3 Yes, speaks well 32 36.4 36.4 80.7 Yes, but not well 17 19.3 19.3 100.0 Total 88 100.0 100.0 Appendix E: Asian populations, by percentage of total population, of Oregon cities of population 40,000 or higher. 62 63 Percentage of population that identified themselves as Asian, major Oregon cities (population of 40,000 or greater), US Census 2000 Citv % Pooulalion County Beaverton 9.7 Washinaton Aloha CDP 7.7 Washinaton Hillsboro 6.5 Washinaton Corvallis 6.4 Benton Portland 6.3 Multnomah Tiaard 5.6 Washington Euaene 3.6 Lane Gresham 3.3 Multnomah Salem 2.4 Marion Albany 1.1 Linn Sorinafield 1.1 Lane Medford 1.1 Jackson Bend 1.0 Deschutes -- � --- - � -- _ _ _ _LJ ' 64 Appendix F: Year of immigration, Vietnamese population, Beaverton/Aloha and Portland PUMAs. Data accessed from the IPUMS database. 65 Year of Immigration, Vietnamese living in Beaverton and Aloha PUMAs Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Born in USA 2 2.3 2.3 2.3 2000 1 1.1 1.1 3.4 1971 1 1.1 1.1 4.5 1972 2 2.3 2.3 6.8 1974 1 1.1 1.1 8.0 1975 18 20.5 20.5 28.4 1976 1 1.1 1.1 29.5 1979 6 6.8 6.8 36.4 1980 4 4.5 4.5 40.9 1981 5 5.7 5.7 46.6 1982 3 3.4 3.4 50.0 1983 3 3.4 3.4 53.4 1985 3 3.4 3.4 56.8 1986 1 1.1 1.1 58.0 1987 1 1.1 1.1 59.1 19�9 2 2.3 2.3 61.4 1990 4 4.5 4.5 65.9 1991 7 8.0 8.0 73.9 1992 3 3.4 3.4 77.3 1993 6 6.8 6.8 84.1 1994 3 3.4 3.4 87.5 1995 6 6.8 6.8 94.3 1998 3 3.4 3.4 97.7 1999 2 2.3 2.3 100.0 Total 88 100.0 100.0 Year of Immigration, Vietnamese living in Portland PUMAs Cumulative Frequencv Percent Valid Percent Percent Born in USA 13 4.1 4.1 4.1 1966 1 .3 .3 4.4 1969 1 .3 .3 4.7 1972 1 .3 .3 5.0 1973 1 .3 .3 5.3 1974 2 .6 .6 5.9 1975 19 5.9 5.9 11.9 1976 1 .3 .3 12.2 1977 3 .9 .9 13.1 1978 8 2.5 2.5 15.6 1979 6 1.9 1.9 17.5 1980 5 1.6 1.6 19.1 I I I I I 66 1981 14 4.4 4.4 23.4 1982 6 1.9 1.9 25.3 1983 2.8 2.8 28.1 1984 1.9 1.9 30.0 1985 12 3.8 3.8 33.8 1986 1.9 1.9 35.6 1987 1.9 1.9 37.5 1988 1.6 1.6 39.1 1989 22 6.9 6.9 45.9 1990 23 7.2 7.2 53.1 1991 34 10.6 10.6 63.8 1992 37 11.6 11.6 75.3 1993 18 5.6 5.6 80.9 1994 20 6.3 6.3 87.2 1995 8 2.5 2.5 89.7 1996 2.2 2.2 91.9 1997 2.2 2.2 94.1 1998 7 2.2 2.2 96.3 1999 12 3.8 3.8 100.0 Total 320 100.0 100.0 9 I I 6 8 8 • 67 Notes: ; I note the difference in population here from two different sources. The first figure of 922, given in Chapter 3, refers to "Vietnamese" in terms of self-identification on the Census. The second figure of 949 refers to people who have migrated from Vietnam, and may not have defined themselves as Vietnamese. " The Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) statistical database contains high-precision samples from each of the U.S. Censuses from 1850 to 2000. It permits researchers to do demographic analysis using a large number of geographic, social, and economic factors. Admittedly, categories such as "race" and "ancestry" are difficult to categorize with statistics, as a blanket term like "Vietnamese" cannot possibly capture all the personal nuances of a population. With this in mind, I used the database to create the best sample possible for the purposes of this project. My samples include people who marked Vietnamese as their" Ancestry" on the Census, and I limited the samples to respondents of age 18 and over. iii For geographic reference, IPUMS defines Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) as areas that "generally follow the boundaries of county groups, single counties, or census-defined places; if these areas exceed 200,000 residents, they are divided into as many J 00,000+ PUMAs as possible." Two PUMAs comprise the near totality of the populations of Beaverton and Aloha; these geographic areas represent Beaverton and Aloha for this project. Five PUMAs cover almost all of Portland's population; those PUMAs represent Portland for this project. For more reference, visit the IPUMS website at www.ipums.or0. ;v I used the largest sample size, 5%, available for the 2000 Census. When looking at this data, I am aware that a sample cannot represent a community completely. 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