A documentary on how Vietnamese workers have taken over the United States: NPR

If you have recently had a manicure, it is likely that you have done it in a manicure salon held by people of Vietnamese descent.

Salons are everywhere – in almost every city, state, and shopping center across the United States. How have Vietnamese entrepreneurs managed to dominate the multi-billion dollar economy?

Director Adele Free Pham decided to answer this question in a documentary entitled I arrived there. Having grown up in Portland, Oregon, she says she found that all the nail salons around her were run by Vietnamese.

"So, I knew there was something missing in the mass media about this case," Pham said in an interview. "And I always wondered why so many Vietnamese were in the nail industry, to the point that my father, a Vietnamese refugee who came in 1975 – he wanted me to get into the industry of nails while I was finishing high school as a hustle, but also probably to keep my Vietnamese.

"But that's something I'm diametrically opposed to because of my own internal classism, you know, and that's something I've been re-analyzing since I was 18. I just knew this industry had a very different face, being Vietnamese, the general public did not understand. "

I arrived there was created for the first time on PBS last week and is available for free online until July 6th via the global channel.

Highlights of the interview

On the impact of actress Tippi Hedren on the nail industry

In 1975, Tippi Hedren was doing humanitarian work. She was organizing a program for 20 Vietnamese refugee women to be resettled in the United States. They admired her nails, the care she took and she had the idea of ​​having her personal manicure, Dusty Cootes, brought to the Northern California refugee camp. and teach these women to do a manicure like in Beverly Hills. And these are really the first manicure licenses in the world, because previously, women still got a license for hair and nails.

Represent the point of view of the Vietnamese community in his film

I consider myself a person of color and I often feel that our story is neither documented nor reported, nor even seen outside the white eye. So, there is something very attractive about the Tippi [Hedren] story; I mean, she is this beautiful actress who was in iconic movies. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the more I was looking, the more I was convinced that it was there the original spark for the Vietnamese entering the US. " nail industry. And it was also important to show how they took over this $ 8 billion industry – or created this $ 8 billion industry, is not it? History has so many different facets and how it has become a pillar of our culture.

On the Mantrap shows, which operated in the black communities of South Los Angeles

I really believe that all fashion comes from black culture. So I always wondered – that was another reason why I shot the movie – how did these manicure salons come in black neighborhoods, did not it? … and that's how I discovered the story of Mantrap. A die [two co-founding] the women are vietnamese and the other african american. And I really think that's where the Vietnamese found their place in the nail salon industry, right? Because they've brought the price back to the point where working-class women could afford that luxury and that black women were coming to bring an art, right? …

Asian women and black women are never presented together in intimate spaces. So there was something I was watching about the two related cultures throughout the filming of this film that I found fascinating and that goes back to this original mantrure salon Mantrap. I mean, where, aside from a nail salon, do you see Asian immigrant women and African-Americans holding hands? I think it's important that people really understand the nuances of this industry and the people who have it exploded.

On the potentially dangerous working conditions of manicure salons (with regard to exposure to toxic chemicals)

Yes, and that 's where you really need to look for these documentaries, as this could be a point of contention for someone who works in the nail industry. It's not all people who work in the nail industry who see it, is not it? But there has never been a long-term study on the health effects of the men and women who work in the nail salon. So, for all the reports and discussions on this issue, I would like to see real scientific data collected … to monitor the air quality in these confined spaces. So when I really started to take off the diapers, I was a little disappointed with the lack of research and advocacy that is done to really deliver measurable results, so that we can say, "Yes, it's a problem, the nail salon workers, their pregnancies, everything. "Because I believe these stories, but it's hard to make it last in court, right? Because chemical manufacturers could always point out that there has never been a study on the health of nail salon workers.

On the reaction to the film of the American-Vietnamese community

So much support, but from the working class, from those who are not necessarily in the film and who just feel that their story is finally represented. And that was the most touching part, you know? Because I think sometimes you see yourself on the screen and you do not even realize that lack of representation until you see it. I have therefore received very emotional e-mails from people across the country. Because to what extent it seems to me, it's very political. …

Our identity is actually forged in the blood of this Vietnam war that we all escape … But if we do not have the right to document it, the fact that boat people have died by the hundreds of thousands to flee Vietnam from cultures created abroad, called Viet Kieu people – I mean, who else will do it next to us, next to their descendants? I doubt that my daughter has the same kind of emotional reaction in Vietnam as me. And I'm just a kidnapped generation.

Audrey Nguyen and Cindy Johnston have produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Patrick Jarenwattananon adapted it for the Web.