Racism: A Constant in a World of Change.
Was racism an ever-present problem in the difficult life of Kien in post war Vietnam? While there are many hardships and challenges documented in his book: Unwanted: A memoir of a Childhood, Kien Nguyen's troubles are often a result of the ethnic and political background of him and his family. Son to an American soldier and aristocratic Vietnamese mother, Kien is cursed with being hated by his peers and country, simply because of his existence. Examples of racism continue to appear in all aspects of his life, including his Mother's fearful hatred, his Aunt and cousin's shame, and his interactions at school. The very community he lived in was also a clear example. The unstable years after the communist seizing of South Vietnam between the 1970's and early 1980's were like a war zone for Kien and his family, and racism becomes a battle that unfortunately cannot be won. .
South Vietnam was being evacuated of U.S occupation during 1975, and their absence was followed by a communist revolution led by Ho Chi Mhin and the Vietcong. While Kien and his family are somewhat isolated from the violence of the revolution by their large gated mansion, time eventually demands their presence for the new communist regime. Attempts to evacuate the city fail, and during their preparations for a new communist life, racism starts to appear in the family's situation.
While in a secret cellar hiding from the Vietcong, Kien's mother "(Ms. Khoun) violently snatches her children (Kien and Jimmy) to the restroom, and forcefully started to dye their hair with primitive black ink. This ordeal becomes a savage outburst of anxiety for Ms. Khoun, who is torn between her motherly love for her half-white sons, and the fate of her life upon the discovery of her marital and parental past, which was considered offensive to the new regime (page 45). The sobbing boys are introduced to racism at that moment, and it's power to tear a family apart.
