4/25 Bindi V. Shah's "Laotian Daughters"

4/25 Angel Truong Journal Bindi V. Shah’s Laotian Daughters

            Bindi V. Shah’s reading reveals the inspiring stories of Laotian girls performing cultural resistance through their political involvement to help their neglected community. In the article, Laotian girls challenged the model minority myth and the stereotypes of Southeast Asian girls by voicing their rights to have resources for their community. Through their efforts, the girls tackled the model minority myth by being involved in politics and they also challenged the sexist stereotypes put onto Southeast Asian girls by aiming for higher education. These stereotypes involve believing that Southeast Asian girls will not succeed in their academic career and will instead be early mothers. As a Southeast Asian girl, I reflected upon this article and I was deeply inspired by the girls’ collective efforts to help themselves and their community. What hit me the most was the efforts to stop Proposition 227. One of their reasons to stop the proposition was to preserve the second generation’s bilingual language. I realized that because I went to a Eurocentric school system, I assimilated to the Western culture and lost my first language which was Vietnamese. Till this day, I’m ashamed of myself for losing my mother’s language. However, from this article, I also learned about the significance of language since knowing English helps me achieved higher education. Therefore, inspired by the girls, I will try my best to use my English and Vietnamese culture to help my community and family by voicing their struggles.  

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