秘密研究所

鈥楽afe Harbor鈥� Documentary to Focus on Vietnamese Fishing Community

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Posted on April 29, 2021

Thomas Becnel

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Chris Phengsisomboun grew up in the Vietnamese fishing community of Bayou La Batre, where the families of war refugees worked and sacrificed to build better lives for their children.

He remembers his grandparents coming home reeking of shrimp from the packing house. He remembers the community reeling from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. He remembers his family feeling so proud when he became the first Asian-American valedictorian at Alma Bryant High School.

鈥淭hat was pretty emotional,鈥� said Phengsisomboun. 鈥淲hen I graduated from high school, I was the only member of the family who鈥檇 made it to that point, so everybody was ugly crying. It was intense.鈥�

At the 秘密研究所, where he earned a communications degree in 2019, Phengsisomboun juggled schoolwork, side projects and internships. The day after graduation, he moved to Nashville to start work at the Recording Academy, which produces the Grammy Awards.

鈥淗e was the kind of student who takes advantage of every possible opportunity,鈥� said Dr. Lorraine Ahearn, an assistant professor of multimedia journalism in the department of communication. 鈥淎nytime I saw him in the hallway, he was on the phone, working, or going into meetings. He was a man with a plan.鈥�

Phengsisomboun will appear in a 30-minute documentary Ahearn is doing about the fishing community. The working title is 鈥淪afe Harbor: The Vietnamese Fishermen of Bayou La Batre.鈥� The project also features David Dai, the first Vietnamese-American teacher at Alma Bryant, who was named Mobile County鈥檚 2020 Teacher of the Year.

There will be interviews with older members of the community, too. After 1975, many of them fled the coastline of Vietnam, arrived in America, then found their way to an Alabama fishing community along the Gulf of Mexico.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 very powerful that boats saved them, some of them, and then ended up sustaining them in a new place,鈥� Ahearn said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a powerful metaphor, almost biblical.鈥�

She began work on the Bayou La Batre project with Andrew Hongo, an assistant professor of broadcast journalism who moved to California but is still co-producing the documentary. Graduate students in the department are doing historical research and pulling together archival material from the Mobile Historical Society and the Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library at South. She received a $1,500 grant from the University's Office of Research and Economic Development to pay for interpreters, travel and the rights to historical photos and newsreel footage.

One of the challenges for Ahearn is building trust and encouraging candor during interviews. Many Vietnamese faced hardship and prejudice, especially when they first came to this country, but that painful subject wasn鈥檛 always shared with their children.

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 talk about it much,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult for some older people to go back and tell it in detail. There are stages people go through 鈥� social stages, educational stages, economic stages 鈥� but it鈥檚 harder to get into the psychological and emotional part of that.鈥�

Asian Identity in Alabama

Bayou La Batre, 鈥渢he Seafood Capital of Alabama,鈥� is 20 miles south of Mobile. It鈥檚 a small city of about 2,500 people. More than 20 percent of the population is Asian-American.

Phengsisomboun (pronounced 鈥渇eng-siss-om-bon鈥�) remembers his family celebrating the Laotian New Year at a Buddhist temple and the Blessing of the Fleet at a Catholic church.

He was a multiracial child in a melting pot community.

His father鈥檚 family are Asians from Laos and Thailand 鈥� they own the Taste of Thai restaurant 鈥� while his mother is a white woman from Mobile. After his parents divorced, his mother married a Vietnamese man, giving him an extended multiracial family along the Gulf Coast.

At South, he skipped many extracurricular activities to focus on a career after college. He landed a show business internship that turned into a full-time job in Nashville.

As a boy, he was embarrassed about having a long last name that people struggled to pronounce. Now he鈥檚 thrilled to have nationwide audiences read his name in the credits for Grammy productions.

Phengsisomboun is only 25 years old, but time on his own has given him some perspective. He thinks he鈥檚 just starting to appreciate the sacrifices that were made for him. He鈥檚 just beginning to understand his immigrant experience.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e fed a particular idea of what the American Dream looks like, with all the prosperity, and having the opportunity to become a businessman or woman,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here was a sense that if I didn鈥檛 do something greater with my life, I鈥檇 be letting them down, and ultimately disrespecting them 鈥� and respect is just a huge, huge, huge part of the family.鈥�

Different Refugee Experiences

Before Ahearn became a communications professor, she was a reporter and columnist for the News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina.

One big story was the 5,000 Montagnard refugees who left the highlands of Vietnam and were resettled in Greensboro. 

鈥淭here would be entire apartment complexes in our city that were entirely Montagnard,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was very interesting, a very noticeable presence. Every time I would write about them, we鈥檇 get these nasty, angry letters from some people. There were other people who understood that we had been allies, we were on the same side, and that Montagnards had saved many American lives.鈥�

Ahearn marvels at the way immigrant communities seek out the landscapes and livelihoods they know. Mountain farmers head for the hills, while fishing families cling to the coast. 

When she joined the faculty at South in 2019, she began meeting students from Bayou La Batre.

鈥淥ne class after another had these Vietnamese and Cambodian students,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 started to delve into their stories a little bit and that鈥檚 how I learned about the seafood industry, and took some trips down there. It鈥檚 so localized to the Gulf Coast, and it鈥檚 so much about the Gulf, but it鈥檚 also a uniquely Southeast Asian story of refugees recreating their lives and becoming successful enough to put their kids through college.鈥�

The 鈥淪afe Harbor鈥� documentary should be finished by the end of this year. The coronavirus pandemic has slowed production, but Ahearn is still doing interviews. There鈥檚 always more to hear and something to learn.

鈥淗earing these migration stories is fascinating,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he people who fled South Vietnam, they lost everything when they came here. We see it as a story of resilience and determination, but it鈥檚 also a story of great loss. There鈥檚 this shadow of the past that stays with them.鈥�

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