大侠行天下日记 我见我闻我思 11/27

国际区越文路牌揭幕

上週末我和德州州议员哈伯武市议员汤姆斯及社区人员一起参加了国际区越文路牌之揭幕式 ，為我们族裔和谐， 社区发展走向前一步。

回顾一九七五年中 美军决定撤出越南， 成千上万的越南难民移居美国 ，其中尤其是德州為越裔集聚的第二大州， 多年来这些曾经在海上吃尽苦头的难民从零开始， 创建了美国移民史上的传奇。

早在十多年前 ，越裔州议员哈伯武和社区人士共同推动设立休斯敦国际区， 经过我们到处走访商家签署支持 ，终於在德州议会通过成案正式成立国际区 ，并在政府税收中，每年拨款约一百五十万元 来治理佔地十三英里西南市区， 多年来， 我们得到社区之广泛支持， 国际区如今已成為休斯敦市経济文化之示范区。

今天我们打开市地图， 许多大商场商家都是由华越裔人士拼搏多年的成就 ，尤其是在国际区之香港 、越华超市， 更是其中之典范。

越文路标為我们增加了族群文化之色彩， 今后我们要增设拉丁文之标示 ，我们深信， 虽然来自不同国家 ，但是我们还是不忘自己的根。

“Little Saigon” Sign Is Up In IMD

I was with State Representative Hubert Vo, City Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas and IMD Board Member Stephen Le Sr. to host the opening ceremony for installing the  “Little Saigon” sign in the International District.

Since 1975, after the Vietnam war, millions of refugees moved to America and Texas became the second largest state in the U.S. They came over here and many of them started their new lives and became very successful politicians and businessmen. This also represented many American success stories and immigration legends.

Houston, Texas is an immigrants’ city. Almost twenty years ago under the leadership of Hubert Vo, we went door to door and got a petition signed by area business people and submitted it to form the International District bill in the Texas House of Representatives. One year later our dream came true. We would now be able to manage a thirteen square mile area in Southwest Houston to improve this area with a budget of more than 1.5 million dollars annually.

Today the International District has become one of the success stories in the city of Houston. More and more residents and businesses have moved here and made the district their home.

We are so happy the “Little Saigon” sign is up to represent our diversity and our part of America’s immigrant culture.

We need to live in our community with harmony and never forget our roots.