In this NCVA Reporter:

Events

Funding Opportunities

Tips

News

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Events

Connecting the Nonprofit Technology Community
Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (http://www.nten.org/conferences)

The Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (N-TEN) seeks to help nonprofits make more effective use of technology to advance their missions. Support is provided through two-day events for people helping nonprofits address technology issues. These events are opportunities to meet your local peers and build relationships, share resources and ideas, and learn more about what's happening in the field. Upcoming conferences will be in San Francisco on September 18-19; Washington D.C. on October 23; Boston on November 5-6; and Phoenix on November 13-14. For more information and to register, visit the above website.

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U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 15, 2003 Contact: Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

Press Advisory: USCIRF Capitol Hill press conference on Vietnam

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan and independent federal agency, will hold a press conference to discuss the impact of recent events on U.S. policy toward Vietnam. Commission Chair Michael K. Young, Vice Chair Nina Shea, and Commissioner Khaled Abou El Fadl will be joined by members of Congress to discuss the imprisonment of Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, the sentencing last week of his niece and nephews, and other recent human rights violations that highlight the overall lack of basic fundamental freedoms in Vietnam. The Commission raised its concerns with Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and called for the immediate release of Fr. Ly and his family members. The USCIRF has also recommended to Secretary of State Colin Powell that Vietnam be designated a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for its ongoing and egregious abuses of religious freedom.

“The imprisonment of Fr. Ly, his relatives, and the many other political and religious prisoners in Vietnam is a major impediment to expanded relations between our two countries. This blatant disregard of the most basic human rights makes clear why Vietnam should be immediately designated a CPC,” said Young.

When: Wednesday, September 17, 2003, 11:30-12:00 p.m.

Where: Cannon House Office Building, Room 334 (CHOB)

1st St. and Independence Ave., SE

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to give independent recommendations to the executive branch and the Congress.

Dean Michael K. Young, Chair  *  Felice D. Gaer, Vice Chair  *  Nina Shea, Vice Chair  *  Preeta Bansal  *  Archbishop Charles J. Chaput  *  Khaled Abou El Fadl  *  Richard Land  *  Bishop Ricardo Ramirez  *  Leila Nadya Sadat  *  Ambassador John V. Hanford III, Ex-Officio  *  Joseph R. Crapa, Executive Director

May 2003 Annual Report

http://www.uscirf.gov/reports/02May03/vietnam.php3

The fourth annual report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom details religious persecution around the world and contains the Commission's recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress.

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Asian Law Alliance Invites You to a Discussion on....

"Race and Police Use of Deadly Force"

Sponsored by Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe

Thursday, October 16, 2003 At 6 p.m.

Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe (Map)

275 Middlefield Road

Menlo Park CA 94025

Speakers (6:45 p.m.)

1) Cynthia Lee, a law professor at George Washington, will be discussing a chapter from her recently published book, "Murder and the Reasonable Man."  Professor Lee writes about how racial stereotypes can influence a police officer's decision to use deadly force.

--On April 29, 1997, Kuan Chung Kao was shot by police in Rohnert Park when he brandished a stick at police.  The officer who fatally shot Kao might have shot Kao because he assumed Kao was a martial arts expert.

--On July 13, 2003, Cau Bich Tran was fatally shot by a San Jose police officer.  The officer who shot her thought the Vietnamese vegetable peeler she was holding was a cleaver.  

2) Felicita Ngo is the attorney for Cau Bich Tran's family.  Ms. Ngo will talk about the difficulties the family has faced in the aftermath of the shooting and the legal challenges ahead. 

Tickets: $10 per person with pre-registration, $15 at the door.

To pre-register, please download the attached PDF file or complete the registration form below and return it with your check to:

Asian Law Alliance

184 E. Jackson Street

San Jose, CA 95112.

Or you may fax the registration form to (408) 287-0864 or email ALA at alaevents@pacbell.net and send a check in later. 

Please pre-register and send in checks by October 10th.

Refreshments will be provided.

Asian Law Alliance

"Working for Justice, Dignity, and Equality"

184 E. Jackson Street

San Jose, CA 95112

Tel: (408) 287-9710

Fax: (408) 287-0864

REGISTRATION FORM

Name(s):

Organization:

Address:

Telephone:

Number of Tickets:

Total Amount Enclosed:

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Funding Opportunities

Wireless Phones and Monetary Donations
U.S. Cellular: Connecting With Our Communities Program

(http://www.uscc.com/uscellular/SilverStream/Pages/a_charitable.html#target)

The U.S. Cellular giving program supports nonprofit organizations that improve the quality of life in communities where the company has a solid business presence. The program provides monetary donations and free wireless phones and service to projects in the following categories: civic and community, education, health and human service, environment, and arts and culture. Requests for funding are reviewed quarterly. For more information, visit the above website.

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Innovative Technology for Youth
Best Buy Children's Foundation (http://www.bestbuy.com)

The Best Buy Children's Foundation supports programs on the national and local (Minneapolis/St. Paul) level that enhance kids' educational learning experiences through the of use innovative technology. The Foundation dedicates its resources to children's issues in two primary ways: supporting the development and delivery of innovative, technology-based educational curriculum and content; and making education accessible to graduating high school seniors through Best Buy Scholarships. The next deadline for applications is October 1, 2003. To review Foundation guidelines on the company's website click on "Community Relations" under the "Company Information" category at the bottom of the home page.

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Thirty-Nine Years of Support from the Packard Family
David and Lucile Packard Foundation (http://www.packard.org/)

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation works to ensure opportunities for all children to reach their potential, to protect reproductive rights and stabilize world population, to conserve and restore the earth's natural systems, and to encourage the creative pursuit of science. The Foundation works to achieve its mission through support of programs in selected issue areas, through support for special opportunities that is flexible and responsive to the institutional needs of organizations, and through targeted support in local areas of historical importance to the Packard family. There is no deadline for applications. Visit the above website for more information.

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Assuring a Quality Life for Future Generations
The Procter & Gamble Fund/Corporate Contributions Program

(http://www.pg.com/about_pg/corporate/corp_citizenship_main.jhtml)

The Procter & Gamble Fund primarily provides support to nonprofit organizations located in the communities where the company has a major presence. The company's areas of interest include: education, arts and culture, community improvement, and environment. Some support is made to select organizations internationally. There is no deadline for applications. For further information, visit the above website.

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Support for Grassroots Social Change
Ben & Jerry's Foundation (http://www.benjerry.com/foundation/)

The Ben & Jerry's Foundation provides support to nonprofit, grassroots organizations that facilitate progressive social change by addressing the underlying conditions of societal and environmental problems. The Foundation focuses on the types of activities and strategies an organization uses for creating social change in a number of areas. The Foundation will only consider proposals from grassroots, constituent-led organizations that are organizing for systemic social change and whose projects are examples of creative problem solving. Both full grants ranging from $1,001 to $15,000 and small grants of $1,000 or less are awarded. Letters of interest may be submitted at any time. For more information, go to the above website.

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A Strong Commitment to Children
Hasbro Children's Foundation (http://www.hasbro.org/hcf/)

The Hasbro Children's Foundation is committed to improving the emotional, mental and physical well-being of children up to the age of twelve and their families through the support of innovative direct service programs in the areas of health, education and social services. The Foundation's funding helps to provide the support children need to grow up healthy and strong, to bring innovative programs to children throughout the nation, and to resolve the issues that put children at risk in the first place. There is no deadline for applications; requests are reviewed three times a year. Visit the website above for complete application information.

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Tips

Best Practices in Nonprofit Compensation

Nonprofit organizations sometimes find themselves walking a thin line when it comes to compensating their employees. The sector may be nonprofit, but it's by no means noncompetitive. Organizations looking to hire the best and the brightest in their fields must offer attractive salary and benefits plans.

If, however, a salary package is deemed in excess of reasonable compensation, the IRS may impose intermediate sanctions on both the individual receiving that salary and the organizational managers who approved it.

In August, the GuideStar Newsletter's Question of the Month asked readers, "Does your organization benchmark employee compensation?" Some 59 percent of respondents answered that they do. Those readers were then asked, "Do you have a clear understanding of intermediate sanctions?" Nearly 65 percent of respondents indicated that they did not.

What exactly are intermediate sanctions?

The phrase "intermediate sanctions" refers to the penalty excise taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue Service when individuals associated with a tax-exempt organization receive excess benefits. Employee compensation is one area that can be subject to intermediate sanctions.

Congress created intermediate sanctions in 1996 as part of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights 2. The IRS issued final intermediate sanction regulations in January 2002.

Before intermediate sanctions, the only recourse the IRS had when confronted with abusive financial transactions within a nonprofit was to revoke the organization's tax exemption. This one-size-fits-all punishment, however, wasn't appropriate in every situation and sometimes forced the IRS to take no action at all. Intermediate sanctions give the IRS flexibility when dealing with fiscal irregularities among tax-exempt organizations: the ability to mete out appropriate monetary punishment without delivering a death blow to the organization.

Intermediate sanctions may be applied to "disqualified persons" who receive excess benefits and to the organization managers who approve the transaction. A disqualified person is someone who is "in a position to exercise substantial influence over the affairs of the organization." This definition includes a nonprofit's board members, substantial contributors, and executive officers. It also includes the family members of disqualified persons.

What are the penalties?

A disqualified person who receives an excess benefit is subject to an excise tax of 25 percent of the excess amount. If they do not return the excess to the organization by a set date, an additional tax of 200 percent is imposed.

Organization managers deemed responsible for approving an excess benefit transaction can be held liable for an excise tax of 10 percent of the excess benefit, with a maximum penalty of $10,000 per transaction.

How do intermediate sanctions apply to compensation?

A disqualified person who receives a salary and/or benefits package in excess of "reasonable compensation" may be subject to intermediate sanctions, along with the organization manager(s) who approved the salary.

What is "reasonable compensation"?

The IRS defines reasonable compensation as "the value that would ordinarily be paid for like services by like enterprises under like circumstances."

Compensation is presumed reasonable unless proven otherwise, provided the organization follows a set of standard procedures. Creating this safe harbor is known as establishing a "rebuttable presumption of reasonableness." As long as the following requirements are met, it becomes the IRS's responsibility to prove that a transaction involved excess benefit.

1. The transaction is approved by an authorized body of the organization.
2. The authorized body uses "appropriate data" to determine comparability prior to making a decision.
3. The authorized body documents the basis for its determination while making its decision.

What is considered "appropriate data"?

For organizations with gross receipts of less than $1 million, the compensation for similar positions paid by three comparable organizations is considered appropriate data.

All other organizations must undertake a more detailed analysis of comparable compensation. It's also acceptable to obtain a compensation study from a qualified third party. GuideStar publishes an annual nonprofit salary and benefits report. The 2003 edition of the GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report will be published in October. The report is unique because it doesn't rely on surveys or questionnaires to obtain its compensation data. Instead, the report is based solely on information from the Forms 990 public charities file with the IRS. Part V of Form 990 (Part IV of Form 990-EZ) asks for a list of officers, directors, trustees, and key employees, along with their titles, hours, compensation and benefits. Part I of Schedule A requests the compensation of the five highest paid employees whose salaries are over $50,000 and who are not officers, directors and trustees.

The 2003 report features compensation data that is searchable by area, job title, or mission. Organizations can use this information to benchmark comparable salaries or for broader compensation research.

What steps can nonprofits take to compensate their employees properly and avoid intermediate sanctions?

For more information, an article by Steven T. Miller, the IRS director of exempt organizations, offers detailed insight into establishing a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness. The final regulations can be viewed in their entirety at the Web site of the Federal Register.

Patrick Ferraro, 2003 © Philanthropic Research, Inc.

Patrick Ferraro is a marketing coordinator for GuideStar.

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Powering Social Change: Lessons on Community Wealth Generation
Common Wealth Ventures (http://www.communitywealth.com/)

This new report authored by the Community Wealth Ventures informs nonprofits about the ins and outs of social enterprise in the United States. The report includes essays from leading practitioners and funders, case studies highlighting enterprising nonprofit organizations, practical lessons for organizations seeking to diversify their revenue streams, and survey results from 72 nonprofit organizations representing 105 ventures and partnerships. Download the full report from the above website.

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Trainers Address Online Philanthropy
ePhilanthropy Foundation Master Trainer Program

(http://www.ephilanthropy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ePMT)

The ePhilanthropy Foundation is the global leader in providing training for nonprofit organizations in the ethical and efficient use of the Internet for philanthropic purposes through education and advocacy. Through the Foundation's ePhilanthropy Master Trainer Program, trainers are chosen for their expertise in online philanthropy strategy and techniques and for their ability to effectively train others. To receive the designation of Master Trainer, applicants must have at least two years experience in the use of the Internet for fundraising and five years in philanthropy. For more information about applying for Master Trainer status, or requesting a Master Trainer to work with your organization, go to the website listed above.

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News

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/thisweek/zone14/news/2091616

Sept. 10, 2003, 2:01PM

An American Success: Family thrives in the face of adversity

By KIM HUGHES
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Loretta Wildman of Cypress is a feisty woman who admits she is picky about whom she allows to cut, color or perm her snow-white hair. That's why the 70-year-old was pleased when she met a stylist by the name of Lee Pham.

"I watched him cutting someone else's hair. I sat there for 45 minutes watching him. He is extremely talented so I made an appointment. Now my whole family goes to him," Wildman said.

She's been seeing Lee for 15 years now and loves his sense of humor, although she said he's a little on the shy side.

She knows how hard he works though, so she probably won't be too surprised to learn about the Pham's humble beginnings and the journey they made to America from Vietnam.

Cy-Fair resident Linh Pham was just 11-years-old in 1975 when his life changed forever. Sitting outside his family's home in Saigon one sunny day, he suddenly saw two aircraft go streaking by, dropping bombs. As the ground shook, Linh knew things could never be the same again.

"My family decided to evacuate. We took shelter out on the open ocean, thinking we would come back and re-settle when things calmed down. But once we were on the way, we learned Saigon had fallen and we didn't want to return to a Communist country," Linh said.

Linh, along with his parents and eight siblings, got into a dinghy headed for international waters. They watched in horror as the entire naval base they sailed from burst into flames just 15 minutes after they left the dock.

"We were in a dinghy overnight," recalled Linh. "We got accepted onto a huge Navy cargo ship that took us to the Philippines. The ship was at least 25 feet above sea level. We had to climb up an aluminum ladder while the ship was moving. My youngest brother was only nine-days old."

Linh said although there were times he was afraid, he mostly felt secure with his parents there with him. He does remember, though, the incident that most scared his father.

"We had a 25-liter water canteen and a crate of food to take with us. While the Navy ship was using a pulley to haul the crate up from the dinghy, it fell and shattered into the water. My father was frantic," Linh said.

Each child had his or her own backpack to carry. Inside Linh's was two outfits and two books of stamps, his most prized possession.

Once the Phams got to the Philippines, they were not allowed to get off the ship except to transfer to another cargo ship that took them to Guam.

"When we got there," Linh said, "we thought things were great because we got an air-conditioned bus."

The family lived in a refugee camp for a few weeks. From there, an airforce transport plane took them to Fort Chaffee, Ark.

But it was the morning of Oct. 1, 1975, that is etched in Linh's memory. That was the morning they went to Fort Smith.

"That morning a whole school bus came to get us because there were 11 of us. I mean, a big, yellow school bus. That's when we started our new life."

A new life and a life very different from the one they lived in Vietnam.

The Phams were a rich family, complete with chauffeurs to take the kids to school. Linh's mom, Danielle, owned a successful beauty salon. His Dad, Binh, owned and operated a car rental business.

Here, they had to start from scratch.

Thu Pham Arnold, Linh's younger sister, was barely 2-years-old when the family came to America. She recalls her father's first job in Fort Smith was working on a chicken farm while her mother was a seamstress. The older kids picked cucumbers and watched the younger ones.

In 1979 the family moved to Houston, where they managed a 7-11 store. The whole family contributed.

"I remember being 4-years-old and stocking shelves, sweeping and mopping. Everybody pitched in," Thu said. "It was also scary. My parents and brothers got held up dozens of times."

"Managing the store was a 24-hour-a-day job," she said. "The family could never sit down together, as somebody was always working. At the time I resented it. I was a kid, I wanted to do kid things. My parents could never attend school meetings or functions. Not by choice, but because they had to work."

From there, the Phams bought their own convenience store. Ten-year-old Thu would literally run the store, operating the cash register.

"That's how we learned English," Thu said. "That's how we gained our confidence, got our hard-work and business ethics. We've been in the public eye our whole lives."

As for Lee Pham, Julia Kovach's shy hairstylist, he was 7 when they left Saigon. But even at such a tender young age, Lee knew what coming to the United States could mean for them.

"I knew that this country meant freedom and opportunity. I knew it held everything we all could want. Just the thought of it kept most of his fear at bay," Lee said.

Lee chased his dreams with a vengeance. He said he's always been creative and artistic, so when he realized he could take a cosmetology course at Klein High School, he went for it.

He was the first male to take cosmetology in his high school, Thu said. He was teased, he was called names, but he took the torment.

Lee said he certainly did take more than his fair share of teasing, even though the girls in his class were supportive of him.

"The problem was that I had to carry around a dummy (a mannequin head)," Lee said. "I wasn't happy about carting that back and forth. I confronted my teacher about it. She said `Lee, one day you will prove them wrong.' She was able to see my future and had confidence in me."

After eight years of working at a salon, Lee ventured out and opened his own business, Lee's Creations.

Along the way, he received accolades ranging from Top Retailer to Most Requested Stylist.

From there, perhaps instilled in him by his family's first experiences in America, Lee went into business with his siblings. Lee, Thu and a younger brother recently opened Visage, a day-spa on Louetta Road.

Thu had originally gone on to the University of Texas where she majored in business. She started her corporate career, got married and had children. After getting laid off, she decided the time was right to go into business with her brothers.

"No matter what we do, or what college we went to, or how many degrees we get we always end up in the family business," she said.

Even big brother Linh is part of the business. He has a master's in computer science.

"I still work in technology, but also remain in the family business as a massage therapist," he said.

The Pham children, now ranging in age from 28-43, own four different day spas throughout Houston.

As for mom and dad, Danielle and Binh are now rightfully retired. Despite coming from such an uncertain future more than25 years ago, they have passed some of life's most important lessons on to their children.

"All my siblings would agree," Linh said. "It's my parents motivation and discipline. They have inspired us. We had nothing when we arrived. Just our backpacks."

Lee agreed. "We're very close to each other. We might fight like cats and dogs but when it comes down to it, we stick together."

Faithful customer Loretta Wildman can plainly see that family bond when she's visiting Visage. She even got the opportunity to meet Lee's mom and dad.

"I'll tell you one thing. I have never seen anybody in my life work as hard as these people do. And his family sticks together, they work together, they take care of each other. I think that's what a family should be," Wildman said.

"Lee is a sweet, sweet person," added Wildman. "I wish he was my son."

Visage will hold a grand-opening ceremony from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 20, 11910 Louetta Road.

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Still Shrimping

Vietnamese American shrimpers 25 years after the second wave

By Irwin A. Tang, Special to AsianWeek, Aug 29, 2003

Sau Van Nguyen, 21, located a policeman and surrendered to him, saying, “I am a murderer. I killed a man.”

It was August 1979, and he was in Port Arthur, Texas, a shrimping and oil refining city on the northern Texas coast, not far from Louisiana. The city was at that time best known for giving birth to soulfully cathartic singer Janis Joplin.

Sau Van Nguyen told the Port Arthur police that he had shot and killed 35-year-old Billy Joe Aplin. Both Nguyen and Aplin had worked as crabbers in tiny Seadrift (population 1250) on the southern Texas coast. Both had held bitter feelings in an ongoing feud over crabbing grounds at the mouth of the Guadalupe River.

The 6-foot-1 Aplin was known for fighting, making violent threats and carrying a firearm in his truck. For two years before the shooting, Vietnamese Americans had complained Aplin and other white fishermen threatened them, assaulted them, stole their crab traps and damaged their boats. Some claimed that Aplin was the ringleader. The police made no arrests in response to complaints.

Meanwhile, whites complained that the Vietnamese Americans encroached on their crabbing grounds and that on one occasion Vietnamese American shrimpers, including Nguyen, intimidated Billy Joe Aplin and his wife.

On Aug. 3, 1979, as Sau Van Nguyen attempted to pull a new boat from the water, Billy Joe Aplin showed up and stood on Nguyen’s hand, pinning it to the trailer hitch. Aplin told Sau, “If you Vietnamese don’t move out of Seadrift, we’re going to cut your throats.” Aplin then chased the shirtless Sau and cut him with a jackknife twice across the chest.

Sau and his brother Chinh went to a friend’s home and obtained a gun. They then returned to the dock to finish pulling the boat out of the water. Aplin, still there, attacked Sau again, punching him and “pitching” him to the ground. Sau pulled the gun out of his pants and shot Aplin, who had lifted his left hand in the air and said, “No, man.”

Today, Khang T. Bui sits behind the counter of his shrimp boat repair shop and recalls what was told to him about the Aplin shooting: that Aplin was shot in the chest twice, once while he was on land, and once upon falling into the bay waters.

Such incidents of Vietnamese retaliation, according to Bui, equalized the balance of power between Vietnamese American and white shrimpers, forcing them to “work together.”

Having repaired shrimp trawlers on the Gulf Coast since 1975, Bui has heard many “real stories, nothing more or less” about Vietnamese American struggles on the Gulf Coast. As he speaks he sometimes taps a metal bolt against the counter, as if to assure himself of the solidity of his world. For the Vietnamese Americans in the Gulf and Atlantic fishing industries, life has seemed like a literal American dream, by turns violent, surreal and wonderful.

Of the first wave of Vietnamese war refugees, some settled along the Texas and Louisiana coasts and worked in seafood processing plants or as struggling shrimpers, sometimes launching out to sea in boats so small that white shrimpers marveled at them.

But with the second wave of Vietnamese refugees beginning around 1978, the Vietnamese American community grew tremendously and their boats got bigger. Tens of thousands eventually settled along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts to shrimp, crab, fish and work in seafood processing and wholesaling. Most of the refugee shrimpers came from a coastal region in Vietnam called Phuoc Tinh, where they had also lived as shrimpers and fishermen.

The Vietnamese brought traditional business mores. Extended families pooled their labor and their money, and whole families sometimes spent months at sea. Between seasickness and long hours, life was often tough. Nevertheless, extended families often saved enough for each nuclear family to buy their own boat.

“We work real hard. Ten times more than Americans,” Bui says. “You see, American in the morning they drink coffee, relax, drink coffee, then they shrimping. Vietnamese, they wake up about 4 o’clock then they shrimp already.”

It was precisely the Vietnamese work ethic that irked many white shrimpers. They claimed that by working so hard and by shrimping seven days a week rather than the traditional five, the Vietnamese American shrimpers threatened to deplete the Gulf of shrimp.

Some whites opposed the Vietnamese because they were Vietnamese. Khang T. Bui first moved to New Orleans in 1975, having escaped Communist Vietnam and the threat of imprisonment. Bui had been a soldier in the South Vietnamese army. Upon working in the shrimping industry in New Orleans, Bui discovered that “The Americans don’t want the Vietnamese got the [shrimping] boats. They want it for themselves.”

Non-Vietnamese docks refused to allow Vietnamese American boats to dock. Furthermore, wholesalers refused to buy shrimp from Vietnamese Americans. “They kick them out,” Bui says. “They say, ‘Hey, we don’t want you.’ We have to bring it back to the market and sell the shrimp ourselves.” In Palacios, Texas, a white wholesaler willing to buy from Vietnamese Americans was ostracized.

Catholic Church Intervention

The discrimination the Vietnamese suffered in Louisiana was alleviated by the work of the archbishop of New Orleans, Philip Hannan. Hannan had orchestrated the re-settlement of thousands of Vietnamese refugees along the Louisiana coast, and according to Bui, Hannan excommunicated one shrimping kingpin who would not allow Vietnamese Americans’ boats to dock. Archbishop Hannan’s all-around support encouraged whites to accept the newcomers.

In Texas, though, things worsened immediately after the killing of Billy Joe Aplin. Four shrimp boats owned by Vietnamese Americans were set aflame, and one trailer home was firebombed. Billy Joe’s brother, Daniel Aplin, called Seadrift a “powderkeg.” The city imposed a 9 p.m. curfew. Soon after, almost all of the hundred Vietnamese Americans living in Seadrift (23 of 25 families) fled to Houston, Louisiana and other places. For lack of workers, the local crab-packing plant closed its doors. Because police had not responded to past complaints, Vietnamese Americans feared a violent war with white shrimpers.

Later in the same week, three white men were arrested in a motel for possession of explosives intended for use against Vietnamese Americans. The man who informed police of the terrorists was B.T. Aplin, another of Billy Joe’s brothers. The fact that Aplin’s brother turned in the bomb-makers may have eased apprehension among the Vietnamese American community, and by the week’s end, most of the them had returned to their trailer park next to the crab-packing plant.

A communications specialist from the Department of Justice arrived in Seadrift and determined that one of the biggest problems on the coast was the lack of a Vietnamese language interpreter, which the Catholic Church then quickly provided. The Catholic Church eventually assigned a priest and a layman to live in Seadrift and mediate between whites and Vietnamese. Throughout the early struggles of the Gulf Coast Vietnamese Americans it was these two entities — the federal government and the Catholic Church — that facilitated Vietnamese integration into local communities.

On Nov. 2, 1979, Sau Van Nguyen was acquitted of murder charges, on the grounds that he acted in self-defense. His brother Chinh was acquitted of being an accomplice, and both moved far away from Seadrift, Texas.

Burning Crosses and Burning Boats

By the end of November 1979, the Seadrift City Council met to discuss the Ku Klux Klan’s plan to come to the small town. Incredibly, 600 people, or about half of the entire Seadrift population, attended the meeting, and many cheered when one man said the town should oppose the KKK. The City Council unanimously passed a resolution against the Klan’s entry.

Billy Joe Aplin’s father said that he had not asked the Klan to come to Seadrift, but that he’d be “proud if it was us because we want it stopped.” This time, many of the crabbing plant’s Mexican American workers joined some Vietnamese American workers in evacuating Seadrift.

About 18 months later, in February 1981, the KKK succeeded in visibly infiltrating the Texas coast. The Klan held its Valentine’s Day anti-Asian rally in the all-white town of Santa Fe, Texas. Grand Dragon of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Louis Beam told the crowd of about 150 supporters, including some women and children dressed in white robes and hoods, that it was “time to reclaim this country for white people.” Continuing, he said, “If you want it, you’re going to have to get it the way the founding fathers got it — blood, blood, blood.”

Beam played off the concerns of white fishermen when he said that the Klan would give the government 90 days to enforce fishing laws against Vietnamese American violators, or the Klan and white shrimpers, numbering about 150 at the rally, would enforce the laws themselves. Beam offered to train white shrimpers at his Anahuac, Texas paramilitary training camp. “This is the right way to burn a shrimp boat” Beam shouted as he torched a boat the Klan had labeled “USS Vietcong.” Ironically, many Vietnamese American shrimpers had fought against the Vietcong.

Over the following weeks, the Klan distributed racist propaganda along the coast. Crosses were burned in the yards of Vietnamese Americans and their supporters, and two of their boats were set afire in nearby Seabrook. On March 15, armed Klansmen riding a shrimp boat along the Texas coast displayed a hanging effigy resembling an Asian.

“They Cannot Mess with Vietnamese …”

According to Khang T. Bui, the Vietnamese American during these times did not sit on their hands and let the Klan take over. KKK members from Vidor, Texas arrived in Port Arthur to burn Vietnamese shrimp boats, says Bui. They discussed their plans at a restaurant at which a Vietnamese American woman worked in the kitchen. The woman told her husband, who then informed the rest of the Vietnamese American community. The community prepared to defend itself, with guns.

Then, according to Bui, a Klansman who was also a Vietnam veteran told the Klan leader, “Hey, man. Back out. If you mess with that people, they shoot you, they kill you.” So the Klan retreated.

Bui speaks of an incident in Palacios, four hours south of Port Arthur. He says that armed Klansmen intimidated the Vietnamese American community by surrounding their trailer park.

“After that,” says Bui, “we defend. We got guns inside [the trailers]. Defend. That’s it. And they know it. They cannot mess with Vietnamese, so they disappear.”

One Texas scholar writes of a white shrimper who had encouraged the burning of Vietnamese American boats at a Kema, Texas rally. Upon being paid an intimidating visit by a Vietnamese American shrimper whose boat had been subsequently burned, the fearful white shrimper moved to another town.

Bui explains what whites and Klansmen often failed to realize about the Vietnamese war refugees: “Vietnamese, we in a war. We know how to use the gun, all that. Shot the KKK.” After the KKK realized that intimidating Vietnamese Americans was useless, things were “quiet . . . no more whites messing with me.”

Vietnamese Sue KKK

In April 1981, the Vietnamese Fisherman’s Association and the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala., filed suit against the Ku Klux Klan, charging them with unfair practices against economic competitors. Because of continued threats, some Vietnamese community leaders considered withdrawing the lawsuit, but SPLC co-founder and anti-Klan lawyer Morris Dees convinced the leaders to continue with the suit.

In May, federal judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, Texas’s first African American federal judge, ruled in favor of the Vietnamese Americans. The Klan was ordered to cease its coastal activities and to shut down their military training camps and armed organizations.

Allowed to shrimp in peace, many Vietnamese Americans prospered. Some saved over the years and moved directly from trailer homes to huge houses. One former janitor eventually became a major seafood wholesaler in Palacios. Some shrimpers bought luxury cars with cash. During the good years, a brisk business was done in diamond rings for the wives of shrimpers. Of course, some Vietnamese were not so lucky or smart: Many went out of business or wasted their money.

The successful ones, though, expanded their businesses, buying or building 90-foot trawlers, complete with freezer compartments capable of holding tens of thousands of pounds of shrimp.

Today, Vietnamese Americans own many docks and wholesale businesses, institutions which in the past discriminated against them. Khang T. Bui now owns his own dock. In Port Arthur, according to Father Sinclair Obre of the Diocese Ship of the Sea, 95 percent of the shrimpers are now Vietnamese Americans.

Bigger Fish to Fry

Although racial tensions and segregation still exist in the Gulf and in the bays, APA and white shrimpers now have bigger fish to fry. Coalesced into shrimper organizations, the two groups fight their common enemies: low shrimp prices, rising costs, environmental regulations, shrinking shrimp stocks and inexpensive imported shrimp.

Asian-white cooperation actually began around 1980, when “gentlemen’s agreements” were made to limit the number of new Vietnamese shrimpers entering the industry. Everyone needed to catch their share of the shrimp, and shrimpers hoped to pre-empt state regulations designed to prevent overshrimping.

Those regulations eventually came, against the loud protests of shrimpers. Texas shrimping licenses were capped at 1995 levels, and over the past eight years, the state has bought back a thousand shrimping licenses. The number of Texas shrimp boats is now half of the 1980 level.

And although the American demand for shrimp has increased, shrimp imported from Asian and Latin American shrimp farms has more than met that demand. The cheaper imported shrimp has slashed the prices received by American shrimpers by as much as 50 percent. Imported shrimp now accounts for about 80 percent of the American market. Ironically, some of the imported shrimp comes from Vietnam.

Khang T. Bui sees some of his Vietnamese American customers losing their boats to the banks, and describes an economic crisis for the tens of thousands of Vietnamese Americans involved in the seafood industry stretching from the Carolinas to the southern tip of Texas. To raise shrimp prices, the Louisiana Shrimpers Association and the Southern Shrimp Alliance — which now has two Vietnamese American members on its board — this month filed separate lawsuits with the federal government calling for anti-dumping tariffs to be imposed on imported shrimp. American shrimpers say that foreign shrimp farmers are selling to the American market at below-cost prices.

Because of high diesel prices, some Vietnamese American shrimpers actually lose money by shrimping. Environmental regulations raise the costs of each pound of shrimp. Limitations on shrimping seasons, shrimping hours, and shrimping methods force those shrimpers who “clock,” or shrimp 24 hours a day, to shorten their work week.

In the most visible show of political strength by Vietnamese Texan shrimpers, about 200 marched on the state capital in 2000 to protest state shrimping regulations. The political activity of the Vietnamese Americans earned the praise of white shrimpers, one white spokesman going so far as to say that the Vietnamese were saving the shrimping industry from the Texas government.

Was the Texas protest a last, loud gasp for a dying industry and a dying subculture of rugged Vietnamese American families? Yes or no, it seems the Vietnamese will soon phase themselves out of the shrimping industry. Very few of the Vietnamese shrimpers’ children wish to shrimp for a living. Many go to college. Others learn a different trade. Perhaps the most famous child of Vietnamese shrimpers, Dat Nguyen, plays football for the Dallas Cowboys.

Khang T. Bui and his wife have three children, two sons and a daughter. Daughter Maria, now attending University of Texas, Austin, was elected homecoming queen of Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur. When Bui speaks about her, his face softens up and he smiles real big. “She makes me very happy.” He holds up a framed photograph of his daughter. After considering for a moment his good fortune, Bui places the picture down on his shop desk. He’s got work to do out on his dock.

http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=8f3bffe189a164998e5b57555b450aca

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