A Vietnamese American (Vietnamese: Người Mỹ gốc Việt) is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese (Người Việt Hải Ngoại) and are the fourth-largest Asian American group.
Mass Vietnamese immigration to the United States started after 1975, after the end of the Vietnam War. Early immigrants were refugee boat people fleeing persecution or poverty. Forced to flee from their homeland and often thrust into poor urban neighborhoods, these newcomers have nevertheless managed to establish strong communities in a short amount of time. More than sixty percent of Vietnamese Americans reside in the states of California, Texas, Washington, Florida, and Virginia.
Read more about Vietnamese American: Demographics, History, Political Activism, Economics, Religion, Societal Perception and Portrayal, Ethnic Subgroups
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“Follow me if I advance
Kill me if I retreat
Avenge me if I die.”
—Mary Matalin, U.S. Republican political advisor, author, and James Carville b. 1946, U.S. Democratic political advisor, author. All’s Fair: Love, War, and Running for President, epigraph (from a Vietnamese battle cry)
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—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)