作者：辛西娅·休伯特

2024年4月29日

在阮兰芳（LanPhuong Nguyen）的脑海里，她仍然能看到火焰，听到枪林弹雨的声音，当时她的家人在稻田里爬行，以躲避越南战争在他们周围爆发的交火。

尽管她和她的父母和兄弟姐妹很久以前就在美国定居下来，获得了学位，照顾了家庭，开始了自己的事业，但她小时候遭受的创伤一直困扰着她。

Nguyen, who is on the cusp of earning a master’s degree at 囊状态, said she still feels like an outsider in some ways, which is one reason she wants to tell her story publicly during an event this week at the University.

“I hope to inspire people to learn more about the history of Vietnam and Vietnamese refugees, to see us as people who were forced to leave our country and who work very hard here,” she said.

Nguyen and four others who identify as Asian, including two other 囊状态 students, will speak about their experiences during “Our Stories Matter: True Stories from the APIDA Community”, 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, at the University’s Hinde Auditorium. 该活动免费向公众开放。

“We believe in amplifying stories from our Asian community. We care about elevating the narratives of the APIDA community, making this a topic of our conversation in our community.” -- Lisa Cantrell, 囊状态 associate professor of Child and Adolescent Development

学生Jomari Fernandez和Hang Hoang以及社区成员Jasjeet danota和Vivien Narcisa Triano也将发言。

“Our Stories Matter” is presented by the nonprofit group Capital Storytelling, launched in 2018 by Lisa Cantrell, 囊状态 associate professor of Child and Adolescent Development. This year’s group of storytellers attended workshops at 囊状态’s new APIDA中心 to prepare for their presentations.

“We believe in amplifying stories from our Asian community,” Cantrell said. “We care about elevating the narratives of the APIDA community, making this a topic of our conversation in our community.”

她说，研究表明，倾听个人故事可以让人们对难民、跨性别者、无家可归者和其他被社会边缘化的人产生更积极的看法。

亚洲人口是多样化的，在20多个国家都有根基。 但他们丰富多样的文化往往迷失在刻板印象和简单化的叙述中。

“We invite our city to listen, walk in another person’s shoes, and begin to have conversations about what it means to be Asian in the United States,” Cantrell said.

阮春英的父亲在1975年越南战争结束后曾是一名政治犯。1990年，22岁的阮春英与母亲、父亲、三个姐妹和兄弟最终抵达美国，此后她遇到了许多障碍。

她克服了语言障碍、贫困和重大的精神和身体健康挑战，并将于明年获得第二个研究生学位。

“When we got here, I knew I had to learn English very quickly” to help her family navigate the complexities of their new life, she said. “I had to do it for survival.”

Nguyen earned two degrees from colleges on the East Coast before enrolling at 萨克拉门托 State, where she is on track to receive her master’s in Political Science in December. 她今年获得了教务委员会学生奖学金。

Nguyen培养了对政治的兴趣，她参加了学生会，并在斯托克顿的社区大学担任学生会主席。 她曾为当地的政治候选人工作和做志愿者。

阮说，她希望把自己的梦想提升到一个新的水平，可能会竞选加利福尼亚州立法机构的一个席位，目标是激励那些面临文化和其他障碍的人获得成功。

“Politics has the power to affect people in their everyday lives, and I want to be a part of that,” Nguyen said. “In whatever I do, I am very determined.”