The Michael Swickard Column - That First Day in America

That First Day in America

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I was in a local store recently that was very heavily decorated in celebration of our next holiday. It got me thinking about a story told to me by a friend named John, who was at one time an Immigration Intake Counselor for the Vietnamese Boat People in Long Beach , California .

John spoke Vietnamese. He loved his job which included walking around the Intake Center helping the new immigrants coming through the center with whatever they needed. There was something very American in his job of greeting and helping people who were immigrating to America to escape the Communists in their old country.

For these people it was their very first day in the United States of America . John was important to these people since most of them didn't speak English. Besides helping with paperwork, John’s job was to show them that America was full of good people and that they were safer in America than they had been in their homeland. They were thrilled to find someone who spoke their language. He enjoyed catching snippets of their conversations as they walked by.

John liked to sit in his office, next to the main walkway. He would listen to the people as they walked by. He loved the sing song sound of their language as they chattered excitedly in Vietnamese about what a wonderful place America seemed to be.

They knew that they had just escaped the jaws of death and they were impressed as they spent their first day in America by what they saw. John heard constantly how they were so grateful that they had made it safely of America .

One day it all changed. It was late October. John suddenly looked up from his paperwork aware that something was not right in his world. It took a second for him to realize that the people outside his office were very agitated. And they were not happy. He looked up from his desk and saw their frightened unhappy faces walking by as they talked excitedly.

John stepped quickly to the door and tried to catch the drift of their conversation. He heard them say that they were going to kill the headmaster for talking them into coming to this terrible and evil land, America. Further, several said that the Communists were right about how dreadful it was in America .

John was in shock. He had never heard anything like this before from the people and could not spot the problem. Another group went by saying much the same things. Frantically John made his way through the crowd. The normally happy people were sullen and pulled back from him. He tried to speak to several groups of people, but they did not reply. Usually all he had to do was say hello in Vietnamese and they clustered around him, but not this day. They watched him warily and hurried away without replying to him.

On his way to the office to report this amazing change of behavior, his American perception came into focus. While he had not participated, he suddenly noticed the staff had decorated the Intake Center in celebration of Halloween. In fact, many were dressed in costume. He looked at these immigrant’s first view of an American and realized it was a woman dressed to the hilt as an evil witch with purple skin and green hair.

It was touch and go for the next hour as John and the other counselors tried to explain to the immigrants in their language that this was merely a charming and quaint one-day American tradition known as Halloween. This was not a celebration in their homeland. At last everyone settled down and the happy chatter returned somewhat, though he heard several groups comment that Americans seemed to be good people but sometimes did crazy things.

The Vietnamese immigrants have quite a story to tell about the very first day they spent in America -- Halloween.

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Last modified May 08, 2008