Andrew Lam is a Vietnamese native who came to America with his family during the Vietnam War searching for safety from Communism. Lam was born in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and arrived in the U.S. at the age of eleven. In 1995, Lam wrote the short story, “Love, Money, Prison, Sin, Revenge” to explain the painful reality that the Vietnam War will never leave the minds of the people from his generation. Lam came to America as a Vietnamese refugee in 1975 before having to really be impacted by Communism in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people who escaped before Communism impacted them are known as the first wave refugees. The first wave of refugees consisted of Vietnamese people who easily adapted to the 1970’s American culture. They consisted of intellectuals,…show more content… Three of the young men were killed immediately while the last, Loi Nguyen was seriously injured. Two employees, John Lee Fritz and Kris Sohne, were killed by the gunmen as well as customer, Fernando Gutierrez. Eight more customers were also injured. Loi Nguyen later went to trial, pleading not guilty, on forty-nine felony counts and three counts of murder. Lam discusses how almost sixteen years after the war, the Vietnamese people are still impacted by the loss to Communism. The difference between the impact on Lam and Tran and the Nguyen brothers is the wave in which they fled to America for safety. The Nguyen’s parents were directly impacted by the Communism that was taking over their home, not only once but twice. Bim Khac, Sao Thi Nguyen and their six children spent four months in a refugee camp in Indonesia before entering the U.S. in the 1980’s. While the Nguyen brothers and Tran held onto the past and were determined to fight for their father’s dignity, Lam decided that the best way to move on is to shift to being Vietnamese-American instead of embracing his Vietnamese culture
