I'll first say, this is not a racist attack against any country. But it is true that Vietnamese who are connected with the US were, in the 1960's, far better off than those who were unconnected. How was this connection made? First, there were those with business connections to the US. They exported the mineral wealth of South Vietnam to US corporations and imported raw materials in a typical colonial relationship. They were rewarded generously by the Americans in terms of not only money but political power, as control over the "natives" was necessary to extract minerals. The second were those with personal connections to Americans. They of course, contributed to South Vietnam's economy with the numerous benefits extracted from stressed US soldiers. I won't go into this much as this may be misconstrued as racism. The third were the government officials of South Vietnam who were more interested in accumulating vast personal wealth off the backs of ordinary Vietnamese than in actually governing the country. Economic growth in South Vietnam remained sluggish throughout its existence due to incompetence, corruption and a dependence on the US. However, Vietnamese immigrants to the US usually carry vast amounts of cash, only to have it squandered a generation later by incompetent children who are more interested in being "hardcore Viet thug gangstas" than in success. In contrast, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has displayed a consistent upward economic trajectory. The failures and children of failures in the US (we can't call them Vietnamese anymore; they have nothing to do with Vietnam but their skin color) are jealous of the success the people of Vietnam have found once liberated from their chains. So they are angry at anything and everything that helped Vietnam get to where it is today, especially China, and most of all, hate that Vietnam is quickly adopting China's model, and in some cases, being even more Chinese than we are.
