The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America

Not a comprehensive study, this anecdotal book, based on the author's experience as a juvenile counselor in California, provides some valuable news about the factors contributing to the unfortunate growth of Vietnamese gangs and crime in the U.S. Many of his counselees are children of uneducated refugees, and they have materialistic American cravings their parents cannot fathom. Vietnamese parenting values run counter to American individualism and self-expression, according to Du Phuoc Long, leading parents to feel powerless when their newly emboldened children challenge them. When schools do not welcome them and society views them as alien, such youths turn to gangs for acceptance. Many of these gangs prey on the Vietnamese community itself, even on its members' own relatives. The author warns against a reliance on prisons as the solution; instead, he proposes more counseling and intervention programs to provide better options for gang-bound youth. Co-author Ricard is a freelance writer. (Dec.)