The Viability of "Going it Alone": Vietnamese in America and the Coalition Experience of a Transnational Community

One of the classic dilemmas facing marginalized populations is whether or not to engage in a coalition to gain access to political power. After three decades as one of America's newest and poorest immigrant groups, Vietnamese in the United States have begun to grapple with this idea, in recent years attempting coalitions with whites, othe Asian ethnic groups, and Latinos as their population has grown. For the most part, such efforts have been either ad hoc or ineffectual; the success they have found has been largely through a "go it alone" (GIA) electoral strategy relying heavily on diasporic fundraising networks, ethnic media, careful cross-racial campaign appeals, and mobilization around transnational interests-namely, opposition to Vietnam's communist government. Both their progress and wariness about the coalition experience recalls Carmichael and Hamilton's classic treatise that, four decades after its publication, continues to offer a useful starting point for thinking about how emergent groups can pursue power in urban communities.As they make gains in the electoral realm, Vietnamese Americans face several challenges that may impede their transition from descriptive representation to full incorporation. Among these are the maintenance of internal cohesion and the increased likelihood of competition with Latinos, with whom Vietnamese Americans share urban space. The last challenge speaks to the long-term effects of transnationlism-whether the pace of current reforms in Vietnam and increased bilateral relations with the United States will ultimaltely undermine the community's anticommunist cause. Using survey, aggregate, and ethnographic data from three California cities-Westminster, Garden Grove, and San Jose-this paper asks if the GIA approach is a necessary first step for new groups to gain political footing and considers its long-term consequences. Drawing from the Vietnamese experience in American politics, I discuss the broader significance of racial, ethnic, and migrant coalition politics in a global perspective.