Esther Wu:
Gulf Coast region rich with Asian-American history
06:54 AM CDT on Thursday, September 8, 2005

For days now, we have been watching news reports of how Hurricane Katrina has ravaged the Gulf Coast. We have seen pictures of the tens of thousands who have been relocated throughout Texas.
The evacuees include Asian-Americans, who have a long history in the coastal region.
One of the first known Filipino settlements in America was established in the 1700s in St. Malo in the bayous near New Orleans. According to historians, these early settlers were called Manilamen and may have been deserters from Spanish galleons that sailed along the Gulf Coast. Newspaper accounts of these Filipino enclaves were reported as early as 1883.
The first Chinese arrived in Mississippi during Reconstruction immediately after the Civil War. Relations already were strained between the black freed men and the white landowners. Because the labor system had been broken, planters recruited the Chinese as possible replacements for slaves. By 1880, census records showed 51 Chinese living in Mississippi.
Those early settlers opened the door for many other Asian-Americans – including many Southeast Asians who, in the 1970s, were lured by the fishing industry to the coastal region.
Today, according to the census, Asian-Americans make up 1.2 percent of Louisiana's population. Of that estimate, 2.3 percent lived in New Orleans and 2.6 percent in Baton Rouge. Mississippi reports less than 1 percent of its population as Asian-American. But in Biloxi, Miss., one of the cities hardest hit by Katrina, 5.1 percent of the city population is Asian-American.
Michael Grabell, a Dallas Morning News reporter who has been covering Hurricane Katrina, filed this account last week:
Sang Le sat with a man he considers his grandfather. He wandered the bridge, shirt over his shoulder, begging for a ride to Baton Rouge. He offered $1,000 that he kept in a wad in his pocket. But he refused to leave alone.
"I've got an old man over there. He's 91 years old. He can't walk. I can't leave him here. He can't speak English. Who's going to help him?" Mr. Le, 41, a tuna fisherman in New Orleans East, considers Loc Nguyen his grandfather because he has been with him for 30 years ever since his family left Vietnam.

The Associated Press reported last week that half of Louisiana's Vietnamese population of 30,000 has taken refuge in Houston. Dallas Assistant City Manager Ramon Miguez said Tuesday that it was impossible to know at this point how many Asian-Americans have been relocated to North Texas.
Justo Hernandez, head of the FEMA team overseeing the federal-intake program in Dallas, said it would take a while to sort through all the names. "Right now, our first priority is to get these people help – food, clothing and shelter," he said.
If you would like to offer temporary housing to evacuees, call 214-670-4275. According to Mr. Miguez, because language may be a problem, you can specify that your offer go to an Asian family.
In the meantime, local Asian-Americans stand ready to help Asian and non-Asian evacuees. Among some of the efforts:
•The India Association of North Texas held a candlelight vigil and prayer session at its offices on Sunday and has launched a relief fund. Donations may be mailed to 777 S. Central Expressway, Suite 7C, Richardson, Texas 75080.
•Theresa Bui Creevy, Nancy Hong and Vi Nguyen have begun collecting food and clothing for evacuees. Items may be dropped off at 445 Walnut St., Suite 113, in Richardson or at Nexus Recover, 8733 La Prada Drive in Dallas. Call 214-432-6586.
•Tzu Chi, a nonprofit Buddhist organization dedicated to charitable works, has started delivering beds to a shelter in Garland and has committed to providing up to 400 beds to Plano if needed. The group has also been providing meals for relief workers.
•The Federation of Chinese Organizations will hold a fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 24 at the China Town Shopping center, 400 N. Greenville Ave. in Richardson. Vendors will sell food, arts and crafts.
Proceeds will go to the relief effort.
E-mail ewu [at] dallasnews.com