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Originally Posted by dculkin
The Vo family sounds like a classic American success story to me. My reaction to their speeches (at least as described in the article) was the exact opposite of Mr. Pitre's reaction. Their use of their parents' native language was a nice touch and particularly appropriate in the context of valedictory speeches.
Louisiana has funny politics. To those of us who have only visited the southern part of the state, Louisiana seems like a wide-open, anything goes kind of place, but the voters down there seem to favor some of the most closed-minded politicians.
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It's the nature of diversity, dculkin. Some parts of the state are populated by what can only be described as neo-nazi sympathizers. Other areas by Laotian Buddhists who came to the USA after having supported the losing side in the CIA's secret war ( -- a fascinating story in its own right -- and not unlike the North Korean partisans who came to the the USA following the end of the Korean War or the Vietnamese and lately, Iraqis and Afghans). Other areas are black liberationist bigots. The Vietnamese and Laotians moved here for the French language and some Vietnamese were Catholics, too. So we have Catholic churches with the mass said in Vietnamese.
If you look at our history of governors as a thermometer, we have had a black one (a republican), a buncha bigots (all Democrats), a whole string of populists, some traditional liberal Democrats, 3 recent, traditional conservative Republicans. Our congressional delegation, in the past couple of generations, has been mostly moderate Democrats (with a couple of conservative Democrats -- an endangered species today), a few moderate Republicans, and a couple of conservative Republicans -- not unlike the Congress itself!
The article above mentions that we are an extremely diverse community and that is a fact. A trip to Intracoastal City will reveal a variety of European and southeast Asian languages haggling over shrimp and shellfish. Go to an oil rig and you'll find all kinds of folks of every hue. It is a community that has a deep respect for tradition. So the Laotian Buddhists, a very conservative community, are at home with the conservative Catholic community. It's a peculiar area. Thank goodness most people don't want to visit the rural areas of Louisiana. I hope tourists continue to believe that NOLA is all there is.
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