I. I moved back to Seattle and dedicated myself to applying my knowledge toward becoming a community activist. I joined all of the major Asian-American organizations, and an African-American organization, in Seattle. I wanted to empower the Vietnamese people in Seattle, but there wasn't any Vietnamese organization doing the work that was needed to get the Vietnamese people involved in the political process. Most of the Vietnamese organizations were still about teaching English as a Second Language, or helping Vietnamese people pass the United States Citizenship Test.
II. So instead of helping the Vietnamese people, I was volunteering a lot of my time for other minority organizations that were using me as a mouthpiece for the Vietnamese community to help them win labor contracts, or to get grants supposedly for the Vietnamese community. Other organizations were also looking for and grooming minority activists who believed in their cause, rather than representing their people in the fight for racial equality.
I learned that Asian-Americans in the position of power were only interested in maintaining the status quo, and I became disillusioned with the political process.
III. I decided to return to school to study web design, so that I could reach out to a wider Vietnamese audience. My goal was no longer just empowering the Vietnamese people in Seattle, but to help the Vietnamese people everywhere to become proud of their cultural heritage.