Issue 02
TRUNG TONG
Excell Network Magazine | Spring 2021
“I was literally living a double life"
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s a boy growing up in Vietnam, Trung Tong listened to adults in his family talk in glowing terms about America ̶ a wealthy and powerful nation of immigrants, blessed with economic opportunity for those willing to work hard, where equality reigned and dreams became reality. But when Tong left his native land at the age of nine with his twin brother and father to join his mother in San Jose, the reality was somewhat different. “It was a huge change for me,” he says. “There was a huge sense of loneliness. My brother and I were bullied in school. There was racism ̶ the stuff that’s going on right now. We heard words like ‘chink’ and ‘gook.’” He also missed the support of the large, extended family he had left behind in Vietnam.
Photos courtesy of @sal.tran
“On top of that,” he says, “I started realizing that my family was really poor.” Three years later, Tong’s family moved to San Jose’s east side. He started hanging out with kids whose older family members belonged to a gang. He felt a bond with them. It wasn’t long before he was drinking and taking drugs. Soon, violence and the threat of violence became part of his world. “I remember when two guys beat up my brother at the skateboard park,” he says. “It put it in my head that I didn’t want to be a weak person who gets stepped on. I was looking for ways to gain power.” Tong also remembers that the things he was now doing ̶ which included shoplifting and burglary ̶ didn’t fit in with the values he had once held. A Boy Scout on his way to earning the rare and coveted rank of Eagle Scout, he was working and going to school. But on the weekends he was running with a Vietnamese gang.
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By Dana Perrigan
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Writer | Journalist | Book Author
e niño creció en Vietnam, Trung Tong escuchaba a los adultos de su familia hablar con elogios sobre los Estados Unidos, una nación rica y poderosa de inmigrantes, bendecida con oportunidades económicas para quienes deseaban trabajar duro, donde reinaba la igualdad y los sueños se hacían realidad. Pero cuando Tong dejó su tierra natal a la edad de nueve años con su hermano gemelo y su padre para reunirse con su madre en San José, la realidad fue algo diferente. “Fue un gran cambio para mí”, dice. “Había una gran sensación de soledad. Mi hermano y yo fuimos intimidados en la escuela. Había racismo, cosas que están sucediendo en este momento. Escuchamos palabras como 'chink' y 'gook' ".
