Nhia Moua - Week 5

"Whose Community is it Anyways?" used the Madison Nguyen recall controversy as a case study to examine the Vietnamese community.

When reading about the Madison Nguyen and the naming controversy, I had the same perspective as Dan Pham on the issue. I would be a Little Saigon supporter. Dan Pham's stand was that the name Little Saigon was consistent in branding since Little Saigon has been used in other places such as Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster and other locations.  Keeping the name consistent would show a wide span of unity among the community where they keep naming consistent. If the district had a different purpose and would not be a hot spot of Vietnamese businesses, then maybe it should not be named "Little Saigon." However, since the attraction for the district would be similar to all other Little Saigon, I also support that the naming of it should be Little Saigon.  Just because I supported Little Saigon does not mean that I do not understand Madison's argument. She had her reasons, but I just do not see how her purposes couldn't stand alongside the naming "Little Saigon."

I was reminded about the naming of Association of Hmong in Minnesota (AHM) to Lao Family.  This situation is different from the Little Saigon event. However, in both cases, there was kinda a split in community about the naming of the organization. The leaders of the AHM wanted to have the organization say "Hmong" because it wanted to specifically target Hmong people, not a collective Lao group. In this case, community leaders, such as Vang Pao, highly influenced the naming of the organization and therefore it was named "Lao Family" instead of Association of Hmong in Minnesota. I do not know if a community leader could have done the same in the situation of the Little Saigon dispute though.