Free Range Pets

Back in the late seventies, my hometown took money sponsored Vietnamese refugees. Local churches, including my grandmother's, were proud of their money being spent for the endeavor...until they came. I'll explain the problems. 

First, the plan was to relocate the refugees in an area that best matched the environment they were accustomed to living. My hometown was on the coast, so the fishermen were relocated to the area; including some of the suburbs of the Houston metroplex. Sounds good? Right? 

A local wealthy grocery owner conveniently had a multitude of rent house near his store, which allowed them to be filled with the refugees. This area was near my grandmother's, and somehow, she ended up with a family across the street from her house. That's when reality set in. 

Without careful thought, and planning, nobody realized the people that fished in Vietnam were not the same as the people that fished in the United States. The cultural difference was immediately apparent, and the results were not pretty. 

The people across the street from my grandmother's would hang their nets in the trees to dry. For those that don't understand fishing nets, they acquire an odor when drying. Not everything washes out, and residue takes on the odor of dead fish. To add insult to injury, commodes were not readily available to many of the refugees in their country, so the porcelain storage area in the small room was convenient for storing shrimp. A little chlorine bleach in the water prevented the shrimp from becoming unsellable in a short period of time, and buyers of shrimp became wary of any shrimp that smelled like chlorine bleach. Shrimp were cheap at the roadside sales on the highway, but not smelling the shrimp before buying was not recommended.

Children, when afflicted with intestinal problems, were allowed to play outside with nothing but a shirt. That allowed them to drain, without soiling their clothes, and this infuriated my grandmother, who wholeheartedly promoted the refugees, and now wanted them gone. She commented one day: "They need to bring them all to the ship channel and throw them in."

I was living in an apartment in the same area at the time. One thing I noticed over time, was the absence of the neighborhood pets that once roamed freely.  Rumor was they were being supper, but I never had any proof, although I did notice the absence of pets I'd watched over a period of time. 

Local fishermen had a huge problem with the refugees. The refugees were given resources the local fishermen spent years of accumulating, and the refugees were exempted from many of the wildlife laws, which gave them an advantage over the local fishermen. To add insult to injury, the refugees, with their free resources, could cut the prices and the local fishermen suffered. There was even an incident of violence in Seabrook, Texas that made national news. 

So, here we are again. This time it's not being swept under the rug, and the internet offers daily views of the problems created by the unbridled relocation of refugees. It doesn't work, and it never will. 

I have to add those of Vietnamese heritage have assimilated into our society, most are productive, good citizens, and those I've known are blessed with strong family values and integrity. It took a long, long time for their adapting to our society, and the method used was far from what anyone could describe as a good solution.